The voice of the Shan State people
for Peace and Transition to Democracy
The voice of the Shan State people
for Peace and Transition to Democracy
 The problems we face 
 Proposals for a better future 
 Impression 
Our life, our land, our future
Colophon
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy
Published by: MPA
Photographs by: MPA
Written, edited and translated by: MPA
Printing House: Za Hlat Ni offset (11344) No, (157), Nine Mile, Pyay Road, 5
Quarter, Mayan Khon Township, Yangon.
This publication is funded by The Royal Dutch Embassy in Bangkok and SIDA
(Sweden), and supported by Burma Centrum Nederland (BCN)
The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of MPA and can under no
circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of SIDA or the Royal Dutch
Embassy in Bangkok.
Copyright: Myanmar People Alliance
The content can be quoted and reproduced for non-commercial purposes. If
quoted and reproduced, content and original meaning should not be altered and
the source should be clearly stated and acknowledged.
Taunggyi/Yangon, January 2016
This Book is based on the conviction of the Shan State people that they should contribute to the development
of the nation towards democracy by exercising their civil rights of freedom of expression and peaceful
assembly. We believe participation should be based on equality and equal rights, without discrimination based
on birth, race, status, position, religion or gender.
The 2008 Constitution grants us citizen’s rights such as freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and
freedom to publish freely our opinions and convictions in accordance with the laws of the country. This grants
us the right to collect and publish our stories and our opinions.
Constitution of the Republic of Myanmar, 2008, Chapter 8; Citizens, Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens:
Art. 347: `The Union shall guarantee any person to enjoy equal rights before the law and shall equally provide
legal protection’
Art. 353: `Nothing shall, except in accord with existing laws, be detrimental to the life and personal freedom of
any person’
Art. 354: `Every citizen shall be at liberty in the exercise of the following rights, if not contrary to the laws,
enacted for Union security, prevalence of law and order, community peace and tranquility or public order and
morality:
(a) to express and publish freely their convictions and opinions;
(b) to assemble peacefully without arms and holding procession;
(c) to form associations and organizations;
(d) to develop their language, literature, culture they cherish, religion they profess, and customs without
prejudice to the relations between one national race and another or among national races and to other faiths’
We do not assume to represent the voice of every individual citizen in Shan State in this Book, but we present
the collected voices within the MPA network and their communities.
We don’t think this Book is inclusive of all the problems people face in Shan State.
We also don’t think this Book is the final blueprint for Shan State’s political, economic and social development
and system of governance, but the first significant step to genuine corporation on the basis of equality between
the people of Shan State and those who govern us.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy
Table of Content
About this book
How we collected the information: wat we did, where we went
1
2
Part 1. The problems we face
Introduction
4
Stories
1. Kalaw Township, Baw Saing Village Tract, Baw Saing
2. Pekhon Township, Moe Byae Village Tract, Moe Byae Village
3. Thein Nyi Township, Koung Houl Village Tract, Nam Hu Taung Village
4. Moe Ne Township, Mike Hai Village Tract, Maezali Myaint Village
5. Pin Long Township, Ha Nan Village Tract, Wom Meng Village
6. Kyaung Tun Township – Mine Lat Village Tract
7. Railway project from Kyaung Tung to Moe Ne
8. Hsipaw Township, Moe Tae Village Tract, Mang Kung Village
9. Ywar Nyang Township, Kyaut Pone Village Tract, Tha Min Poung Village
10. Pinlaung Township, Tyggit Village Tract
11. Muse Township, Swan Saw Quarter
12. Muse Township, Muse Homon Quarter
13. Nang Cho Township, Keying Ga Naing Village Tract, Tha Pyay Wan Village
14. Nang Cho Township, Tong Se Village Tract, Shwe Gya Ain Village
15. Kyauk Mae Township, Chwey Kon Village Tract, Mwe Taw Village
16. Taung Gyi Township, Nant See Village Tract, Pang Pet area
17. PaO Self Administrative Zone, Pinlaung Township, Htein Pn Village Tract,
Paunglaung area
18. Tachileik Township, Tah Leh Suntownship, Mine Linn Village Tract,
Nar Hi Long Village
19. Nam Sam Township, Number 5 Villagte Tract, village no.4 and 5
Effects of mining on environment and health
6
12
18
22
26
29
33
37
41
46
51
54
59
61
65
68
What we have done to address the problems that we face
92
74
79
87
90
Part 2. Proposals for a better future
Our understanding of some important terms
Introduction
100
102
Proposals for a better future
Land
Natural Resources
103
107
Consultation and participation
Governance
Gender
Rule of law needs just laws
110
112
113
117
What we value
118
Part 3: Impression of `The voice of Shan State People for Peace and Transition to
Democracy’ Forum
Short summary of the highlights
About MPA
128
130
Acknowledgements
We thank the people of Shan State, members of MPA and friends for their collaboration with heart and soul in
making `The Voice of Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy’; political parties, ethnic
organizations, those who helped us organize meetings with the communities across Shan State, and ethnic
friends who provided suggestions.
We also thank the representatives of the people of Shan State those who assisted us with `the voice of Shan
State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy’ forum held from 15 to 17 December 2015. Members
from political parties, ethnic armed groups, CSOs, and NGO’s are acknowledged for attending and discussing
with the people in the forum.
Myanmar People Alliance
Message of Myanmar People Alliance
We are the masters of our own life…
We want to have influence on the way we are
governed…
We want democratic decision making based on our
needs to improve our daily life…
We want guaranteed human and civil rights under
the law…
Therefore: We want a government that serves the
people.
. About this book
We made “The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy”, because we, as
people of Shan State, want to support the transition towards a real democratic society.
We believe that in a real democracy people have a voice and can speak out without fear because the
government wants to know what the people think and what we need, because the government cares
about the wellbeing of the people.
We want to speak out and be listened to, because the government makes decisions that directly affect
our lives and the life of our community. We believe it is the right of the people to participate in the
decision making, because it concerns our life and our future.
We understand that after decades of conflict it is important to create a society where we can all
contribute actively to peace. Only when we have real peace in our country we can have development
that benefits all the people.
We understand that a transition from the past system of military rule to an open democratic society is
not easy. Many structures of the past still exist. To change this is not only the responsibility of the
government, the civil servants, our political parties, our representatives in parliament and our civil
society organizations. Change is also the shared responsibility of all the people. We want to participate
in changing our society; therefore, we share our voice.
We want to live in a country where everybody benefits from the wealth of our country. We want to feel
that we belong to a nation where everybody has equal opportunities, and where everybody feels that
their rights are protected and their needs are respected by the laws and policies. We value our ethnic
identity, and we want to protect the diversity in our country. If we make a society where there is
equality for everybody, with respect for diversity, we can end the civil war and live our lives in peace.
As we live in Shan State, we have concentrated on our own State.
In part 1 of this book, we share the problems we face. We understand that many of the problems we
face are connected with our system of government and we know that change takes time. Many of the
problems we face are connected with our land. We have many cases of landgrabbing, and we face
obstacles when we try to register our land. We want to live as farmers, so our land and land security is
very important for us. We also share the pressure we face because of all the mining and other
development projects in our state. We are suffering health problems, and we are worried for our
environment.
Many of our problems are also connected with the system of governance. We want everybody to know
that we are looking for ways to communicate with our government, with the civil servants and with the
local leaders. We now have civil rights under the new government, so we have a chance to speak out.
But it is very difficult for us to get the information we need. There are many new laws made in the past
years by the new government. Part of these laws are supporting the rights and security of our people,
our environment and our development, other parts protect the government and serve the interest and
benefit of only some people instead of all the people.
We experience a lack of openness and free communication and information sharing.
By sharing our experiences and our hardships, we want to contribute to a better understanding of what
needs to be changed in our country to create a real democracy with a government that is supported by
the people and is working for the common good.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 1
That is why in Part 2 of this book, we share our proposals for a better future. We want a government
that we can trust, but we also think the government needs to be able to trust the people. Therefore, we
share our ideas. Before, we were afraid to speak out, because we had no civil rights. Now we believe
that we need to tell the government and the other people in our country what we, the people of Shan
State think, want and believe. If we keep silent, the government doesn’t know what we want. If we
speak out, they can listen to us and we can work together to make a better country for everybody.
In Part 3 we will share the proceedings and statement of the Forum `The voice of the Shan State people
for Peace and Transition to Democracy’, held in Taunggyi from 15 to 17 December 2015.
This book is the first step towards better understanding between the people of Shan State and the
people who govern us. This book is about what we experience, what we feel. It is also about our dreams
for the future. We have suffered from the conflict and the government in our country for many, many
years. We do not want to live our lives in fear anymore. We want to live in a peaceful and free society,
where we can trust our government to work together with the people for the benefit of everybody.
We believe it is time for change.
. How we collected the information: what we did, where we went.
This book represents the shared issues and common visions of the people in Shan State, collected
through the MPA network.
In 2014 and 2015, we had 75 meetings, workshops and consultation sessions, attended by more than
6000 people from all parts of Shan State. In these meetings we talked together about the mining,
landgrabbing and governance issues and problems communities face because of these issues. We
shared stories and experiences, and debated what kind of change we would need to make our lives
better.
Based on the experiences of the people in the affected communities, we discussed the laws and how
they can be applied for the benefit and protection of the people. We designed what would be the
proper way to address these issues in a nonviolent way and took action accordingly. We debated the
system of governance in the country and explored what kind of change would be needed on which
levels for the country to become the democratic and free society we envision.
After our meetings and workshop, the participants would go back to their communities and share their
knowledge and insights with the people in their villages.
After we decided that we wanted to make this book, a team started to work on the draft, sharing every
stage with the communities involved through sharing and consultation sessions.
For the final drafting of the book, the stories we present here were checked and confirmed by
representatives of the affected people. The final draft of the book was presented to the communities
involved to get their approval. The book was presented through the Forum: ”the Voice of the Shan State
people for Peace and Transition to Democracy”, held in Taunggyi form 15-17 December 2015.
2
Map of workshop and
consultation areas
We did not speak to and worked with all the people in Shan State. But we, as MPA members, feel that
we have made a book that represents the many problems the people from different ethnic groups in
Shan State face. Though we could not describe all cases happening in our State, we believe the stories
that we present are representing the problems faced in the whole of Shan State.
The solutions for the problems and the proposals for change come directly from the people consulted.
We have debated on the proposals for change often during the process of making this book, and have
tried to find ways for change that can be implemented in the process of changing our country into the
federal democratic state we envision. What we present here is the common vision for change of the
people in Shan State.
There are areas in Shan State that we could not visit regularly. Even though a Cease Fire Agreement has
been signed in October 2015, the civil war in our country continues. Not all Ethnic Armed Organisations
are involved in the Cease Fire Agreement, and part of our Shan State is still a battle field. Therefore, the
areas of north eastern Shan State (Kokang and Wa areas) and parts of Middle Shan State are not
covered due to security issues. We hope that we will be able to share the experiences and the stories of
the people in these area in the near future. We long for sustainable and inclusive peace in Shan State
and in the whole of Myanmar.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 3
. Part 1. The problems we face
Introduction
Shan State is a large state where many people from many different ethnic groups live. Our state is rich in
natural resources, and many projects to develop our state have started or are in the process of being
started. This makes us very worried, as we are facing a lot of problems because of the way our state is
used for development. Because of the mining of natural resources, and the lack of proper regulations,
our environment and the health of our people, our animals and our forests is threatened. Our forests
are also under threat because of unregulated logging.
Map of Shan State with Salween
Dam Project, Shwe Gas pipeline
and Inle Hotel zone areas.
Our water resources are used for generating electricity, dams are build that destroy our villages and
influences the flow of our rivers. All the life depending on these rivers is disturbed. Our natural
resources are not extracted in a safe way, waste water can flow into our streams and contaminate our
drinking water. We also worry because waste water flows uncleaned into Inle Lake. This lake is
important to all of us in Shan State, but it is also the home of the Inthe people. We are afraid for the
lake, because of the deforestation which makes the lake silt up, because of the mining waste water and
the increased use of pesticides. Already the water level is lower than before, and fish are dying. If we
poison our lake, we poison our future. At the lake area, the people face land grabbing because of the
4
development of a hotel zone. We fear that this development will add to the environmental burden of
the area.
We worry for the Salween River and its tributary, where, from 2013 onwards, 6 dams are planned, of
which 4 will be in Shan State. (The other two will be in Karenni and Karen State). These dams will have
an impact on all the people depending on the river. The construction has already started, but there is no
transparency on these projects that will affect many people as many villages will be relocated. People in
all Shan State are opposing these projects on the Salween river.
We worry because of the Shwe Gas pipeline that is running through our State. The pipeline was
constructed in 2009 and crosses Rakhine State, Magwey Division, Mandalay Region as well as Shan State
before it enters China. More than 2000 acres of land were grabbed for this pipeline, and it causes
environmental damage. The people do not benefit from the natural gas from Myanmar, as it is sold to
China.
In Shan State the people have to cope with the difficulties these projects cause, but we will not share in
the benefits. Only big business and foreign countries will benefit. We support the movements of
Myanmar people protesting these big projects. We want development that is in line with our traditions,
that protects our environment and that supports our struggle to build a peaceful nation for all citizens in
Shan State and in Myanmar.
Map of location of stories
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 5
In many places in Shan State, land is grabbed. In Shan State, most people are farmers. We depend on
our land. Without land, we can’t survive. Without land, our communities are disrupted and our tradition
and culture fade away. Therefore it is very important that we can safeguard our existence by registering
our land. Many of us have farmed our lands in a traditional way, without paying land tax or crop tax.
This makes it difficult to prove we have worked on this land for generations. We need assistance from
the authorities to prove we have worked on the land. But we do not always get assistance, because if
our land is classified as vacant or empty land, it can be used by the government for mining or other
development projects. In this way, we not only lose our land and our traditions, but we also face
environmental destruction. But even if we have registered our land, it can still be taken from us because
the laws are not properly implemented and the rules are not followed.
The people living in Shan State do not benefit from the big projects our government and the companies
develop on our land. The Union government makes the decisions, and our Shan State government has
no power to make decisions that benefit the Shan State people. Because of this situation, we can’t solve
our problems in Shan State. We can’t influence the decisions and we can’t depend on the authorities to
treat us fairly and equally, implementing the law for the benefit of the people.
We want to share 19 cases to illustrate what problems we are facing. These cases are not the only cases
happening in Shan State. But we feel they give an overview from different areas in Shan State of how
the land issue, the mining and other development projects influence our daily lives. We also share what
we have done to persuade our government to solve our problems. But, so far, our government is not
listening to us. Our issues are neglected or denied.
In the original Myanmar version of this book, all stories are supported by evidence (letters and
documents in the Myanmar language). These documents are not included in this English translation, but
are accessible on www.myanmarpeoplealliance.net
6
. Stories
1. Kalaw Township, Baw Saing Village Tract, Baw Saing
Unregulated mining of lead by a variety of companies, affecting 25 villages (16 villages and 9 quarters) in
an area of 8 x 12 miles, having an effect on the environment and land and water resources of the
communities.
We have around 23 licensed companies in our area who are mining lead, but there are many mining
operations for which it is not clear whether they have a license or not. Our resources are exploited in
such a way that we can’t check what is happening. Because we think many of the companies are
operating without the proper license, extraction occurs without proper regulation.
There is also illegal mining, where the resource is exploited without license and therefore without any
regulation.
We have checked with the register of licensed companies issued by the Ministry of Mining in Nay Pyi
Taw, and found 23 registered licensed companies for the 2014 edition.
We have made a map of all the other operations going on in our area, for which we could not get
evidence that they have a license. We think they are working without a license, or maybe with an
expired license or they extended the area for which they have a license to places where they do not
have a license. These operations are not listed in the Register of the Ministry of Mining, edition 2014,
but we know they were extracting lead in that year.
It is very difficult for us to verify which company has a license and which operations are not legal,
because the information on the mining activities is very unclear. We think it should be more open and
transparent, so we can take action according to the law when illegal mining activities are happening in
our area. The regulations should be followed.
Our environment is destroyed by mining activities that are not operating according to the law. It is also
difficult to find out what resource is mined and what the mining processes are. This means we can’t
protect ourselves and our environment properly against unsustainable extraction.
We are never informed before the mining starts. Nobody ever asks for our consent.
The laws that should protect us are not implemented.
There are no measures against environmental pollution, there are no regular checks on the safety of our
drinking water and there is no independent organization we can turn to with our worries and that can
do independent research.
For years we have been trying to get the information we need. There is no public source of information
easily accessible for our community. We are struggling with the effect of the mining companies in our
township. They offer no job opportunity, they offer no benefit to the community.
The mining only causes problems for our community.
One company, named Top Ten Star Company Ltd. is a licensed company. They are allowed to mine lead
in our area from 2008 onwards. They dump the waste from the mine beside a road in our village. We
can’t believe their license included the dumping of their waste so close to our water source.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 7
We learned that there is an Environmental Protection Law to protect the environment. Dumping mining
waste like this is not according to the law. But nobody controls the mines. Nobody implements the laws.
There is no space for our complaints.
We worry that our water is contaminated and that it will affect our crops, our animals and our health.
One other company, named GPS, is mining in our area since 2010. It is also a licensed company with a
private Myanmar owner. It used to be small, but then it created a joint venture (GPS JV). This company
is a foreign company that made a joint venture with the Myanmar government. Our government owns
13,5 % of the shares in this company.
Since the involvement of GSP JV Company we have faced a lot a trouble. They have built a lead refinery
in our area. GPS JV is providing the raw materials to this refinery.
They have been in several places in our area, and in Pu Yeh village the
community faced with a water shortage. We have learned that lead
mining needs a lot of water. Water that could be contaminated by the
lead is also used by the villagers. The villagers in Pu Yeh protested and
wanted to destroy the refinery. So the company moved the refinery to
another place. We are worried for the people in this other place: they
are going to face the same difficulties as the community in Pu Yeh.
We have taken action from 2012 onwards against the mining activities
in our village. Our water source is close to the mining area, there is 3
falong (one falong is appr. 660 feet) between the mine and our drinking
water.
The mining company uses our road to dump its waste. They bring it
with trucks and dump in on the road surface and flatten it. It is dust
Mining in Baw Saing area
combined with lumps of stone. We don’t know what is in the waste,
but one time after the company had dumped a new layer on the road, a family of chickens was looking
for food on the road. After that all the chickens first were dizzy and then they all died. This was before
the start of the rainy season. These kind of things makes us very worried about what they are putting on
our road.
Before, we used to have cows, they used to graze in another area called Patu Pala area. In that area was
a lead mine as well. Our cows started dying, they died with foam on their mouth. Calves that were born
very often died. Now, we don’t have cattle anymore, because they have no safe place to graze.
We also suffer a lot from the dust. The heavy trucks of the company use the road, spreading dust on our
crops and trees beside the road. When it rains, the dust mixes with the water and comes in our
groundwater and drinking water.
We don’t know what is in the dust, or what is in our water.
We used to have fish in our waters, but now the fish have almost disappeared. We also found fish that
looked very bad: they had a head and they had bones, but the flesh of their body was gone. This we
found in the pond that we and our animals use for drinking. Around 900 people depend on this water
source.
Our community is suffering from health problems. Diseases we did not know before the mining started
are now affecting more than half of our community. We suffer from aching joints and some villagers
suffer strokes and become partly paralyzed. Also young people are affected by this.
8
Many of us have to visit the hospital in Pindaya or Taunggyi every month to get an injection. Others
depend on traditional medicine to feel better. We can’t prove that we get ill because of the mining and
the irresponsible behavior of the mining companies, but we do know we did not suffer these health
problems before the mining started.
We have been protesting against the mining since 2012. We have written letters and tried to have
meetings with the local government and the company. In 2012 there was a first meeting about our
problems. This was on May 5, in Ta Tor village. People from the police, from the local government and
Daw Li Li Myint from GPS JV Company met with 30 villagers. We shared our problems, and they said
they were going to develop our village, promising to provide electricity and a road.
We waited for them to fulfill their promises, but nothing happened. So we decided to organize in our
area and work together. We wrote many letters to many people. We added signatures to our letters to
show that many people do not agree with the mining and the kind of development that we face. But
again, nothing much happened and not many letters were answered.
In January 2013 we again had several meetings with people from the police, the local government, Daw
Li Li Myint from GPS JV Company. These meetings were in Ywar Haung Monastery, in Ywar Haung village
with 150 villagers attending. Again, they made many promises. Again, the mining continued and nothing
happened. In this month, U Saing Thun Yin, the minister of Electricity in Shan State promised us that we
would get electricity. They started putting up the electricity poles at the road. But they never finished.
The poles stand there since 2013, but there is no wiring and no connection.
In April 2014 we decided that we had to take action, because in response to our problems we only got
promises that were never fulfilled and the situation in our area remained the same.
We heard other communities had protested against the mining in their area, and sometimes they were
successful.
It is complicated to protest, as some of the companies involved in the mining are closely linked to
people who make the decisions. But in Pu Yeh they were successful and the mine in their area was
moved to another area, to Pyu Kan village and later to Se Sais village. We feel bad about this, because
now they moved their operation to a place that is a low area, and fills up with water easily. It is also a
place within the catchment area of Inle lake. We are afraid that the dirty water will flow to our Inle lake.
The media paid attention to these cases. We believe that the protests were successful because the
media coverage gave attention to the way people who make the decisions about licenses and policies
are connected with the companies who are not operating in line with the law.
We needed to do something to change our situation. So for one month, in April 2014, we blocked the
road to prevent the company from transporting the materials from the mine to the refinery. We
thought that they had to listen to us if their business was directly affected. We dug a hole along the
whole surface of the road so the trucks could not pass anymore. During the protests we faced many
difficulties, but in the end the company had to pay attention and talk to us. We had several meetings
with the police, the local government and the company to negotiate.
On May 20, 2014, we had a meeting with GPS JV as well as people from the mining department, the
Danu cultural and literature society, Ta Da Kan village youth, village chiefs from all the villages (village
GAD) and assistant representatives of the villages. In this meeting, we negotiated with the company and
made an agreement.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 9
The company wanted permission to use the road for 3 more months while they would build another
road for the transportation of the materials from the mine and the refinery.
The company promised to clean our road after the new road was finished.
The company would provide electricity for the village within 5 months. This electricity project would be
organized with the GPS JV Company and a village electricity committee.
The company would also build a school for the village.
This agreement was made and witnessed by representatives of the government.
But again, the company did not honor the agreement. They didn’t do anything, they just left our area
and shifted to Ywar Nyang. They left us with all the damage and now they are going to cause trouble to
another community. They also left the factory behind in Ye Phyu Khan village.
Because of all the broken promises and all the lies they have been telling us, some of us were afraid the
company would come back. We wanted to prevent them using the factory ever again. In the first week
of December 2014, we destroyed the factory. This caused a lot of trouble, we were threatened with
arrest because of destroying company property, but we knew the company did not have a license to
operate in our village. Still, if was a difficult situation which created a lot of tension. We know that what
we did was against the law. But how can we believe in the law, when what the companies are doing in
our area is unlawful, and nothing is being done to prevent this?
In the end, nobody got arrested for this action.
We still have the problem with the waste from the mine. The company promised to clean the area, but
this promise was also broken.
Beside the road that is used as a waste basket, we grow corn, cheroot leaves, avocados and beans and
mustard. We have noticed that our crops are less than before. The taste of our food has not changed,
but we have to wash it very thoroughly. The mud is different than normal mud, if we wash it off, it first
turns yellow.
Protest sign Bow Saing
10
We want to feel safe in our village. We want to be properly informed about the projects that are there,
we need free access to information. We want to be consulted before a project starts and we want to
have to right to object formally. As it is our livelihood and the future of our community that is directly
affected, we want to participate in the decision making process.
We want to be able to discuss what kind of development we want, and we want to be taken seriously by
the government, the companies and the development organizations.
We believe that the resources in our area should benefit the community, and that the community
should have an important voice in planning for the future. Sometimes it might mean we choose to leave
the resources in the earth, as extraction and exploitation is too dangerous for the environment or our
people. Sometimes it might mean we have to make a good agreement with the companies on mining
restrictions and remedies for the community. We want to have a voice in our own development. And we
want this process of information, consultation and consent formalized in a law that is implemented
equally for all citizens.
Our direct concern is the pollution of our environment. We need an independent investigation, and we
believe it is the duty of the company to clean up the mess. We have no benefit from this economic
development, only trouble. This is not fair. We want the law to hold companies responsible for the
cleaning up after the mining project and restore the environment so we can continue with our lives.
On July 1, 2015, we organized a conference, together with the Green Rights Organization, an Aung Ban
based cso. We called it the Baw Saing Conference: Rural Voices for Rural People.
For one day, more than 1000 people from 16 villages in Baw Saimg Township, Yaut Sout Township, Ywar
Ngan Township, the Pin Da Ya Township, Kalaw Township and Taunggyi Township came together in Ye
Phyu Kan village. We presented and discussed the issues we face in this whole area.
Together we reached a decision and made a declaration. This is what we decided:
1. We must all collaborate to immediately stop the mining business that ruins the environment, impact
health and social condition, according to the laws.
2. We must try to fully have ownership on our ancestral land that we use in line with the ethnic
tradition.
3. According to the agreement made in this conference, we decide that agreement must be taken from
all the local ethnic groups, concerning any projects that relates to the land.
4. We decide that all ethnic groups will make pressure together, in order to be able to solve the current
problems, concerning environment, land and social economy.
5. The Baw Saing conference confirms that everybody needs to respect all rules and regulations that are
made and presented by individual villages. E.g. lands must not be sold, rented, or signed away for
projects that ruin the environment.
6. We decide all the mentioned above will be authorized up to the next conference. We decide this
conference will be held once a year.
We are committed to this agreement. We want to influence what happens in our areas, we want to
work together with other ethnic groups and communities to protect our environment and our future.
So when on October 14, 2015 U Lin Htut from Myanmar Investment Commission at Nay Pyi Taw, the
Managing Director from GPS JV Company and Township government came to address our communities
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 11
and make more promises, we all together told him that we don’t trust our government to keep its
promises. That we had been promised many things in the past, but nothing changed. We want to see
constructive action from our government, we want real change, and no more empty promises.
12
2. Pekhon Township, Moe Byae Village Tract, Moe Byae Village
Land grabbing by Military – battalion 422. 1500 acres were grabbed in 1992, military only uses 150. 264
acres are used by the Forest Department, 154 acres are used by different organizations. People want
the land that is not used by the army to be given back to the original farmers.
In 1992, the military came and took 1500 acres of farmland from our community. 217 families were
affected. Most of us farm according to our tradition of taung gya or shifting cultivation. They took the
land for the new battalion 422, because of security reasons. That is what they said to us. We had no
chance to defend our land when the army came.
264 acres of our land, belonging to 59 farmers, is now used by the Forest Department, 154 acres from
53 farmers is used by different organizations, which leaves 1082 acres for the military, affecting 105
families.
The military use only 150 acres of the land. They have built barracks and
houses for the soldiers and their families. They have a school as well. The
other 1350 acres are not used for the purpose for which they were
taken. We have been working on this land from 1982 till 1992. We were
never consulted and no compensation was given for the land or the
crops. We did not get any substitute land and no grievance
compensation. We depend on our land, without land to farm we have no
income. We can’t afford basic needs and important things like healthcare
and education. Because we have lost our land, our community has lost its
way of life. We know how to farm and be farmers, we have no other
skills.
Since the military only use a small part of the land, some farmers in our
Map of Moe Byae disputed area
community were allowed to farm on the grabbed land, but in return we
had to pay tax to the SPDC who was in control at that time. In 2002 and 2003 some farmers tried to
register their land (Land Certificate F 105). Only those with relations with the military got permission to
use the land, others were refused. Most of us are afraid, it is hard for us to ask the military to be allowed
to use the land.
But we can proof we are the original owners, some of us have tax receipts and we also have a letter
from the Township GAD to the Village Tract GAD that tells them to start the procedure for Form number
7 with us.
The Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law 2012 says that land that is grabbed but not used
for the intended purpose within 4 years, should be given back to the original owners. Because we have
this knowledge now, we can do something about our situation.
We have formed a group of 66 farmers who lost 264 acres to get our land back together. We are
cooperating with other groups in the same area to get all the land back.
154 acres of our land which was the land of 53 farmers, were used by Regional Commander U Maung
Bo. He used 154 acres for a castor oil plantation for biofuel till 2003. This plantation failed.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 13
After 2003, the Moe Byae SPDC U Kyauw Saw divided the failed castor plantation into plots and gave it
to some organizations: the Village GAD, a Women’s Organisation; KNG Border Guard Force, Military
Intelligence, Moe Byae People Militia, the USDP and the Village State and Peace and Development
Council. They use the land for farming to do fundraising. They constructed only one building on this part
of the land, and only in 2015. All these organizations have good connections with the military. The
people’s militia sometimes threatens us if we approach our land that is taken by them. But we know
they have no valid claim to this land.
The organizations have given some part of the land to other, outside people to use. They gave land to 21
people. These people are related to the soldiers or are retired military staff. These newcomers got a
Form number 3 from the Land Registration Department to use the land. This is a temporary permit to
use the land. It was given to them by the Chief Minister of Shan State in a ceremony on October 17,
2014. It is not right that land that has been take from us for the military is given to other people to use.
150 acres of our land is taken by the Ministry of Forestry. This was taken from 59 farmers. We were
never informed or consulted about that. This happened in 2010. Some of us even had Form 105 for the
land that the Forestry Department took. We were allowed to work on this part of the land by the
military, some of us already had prepared for planting when they announced they were going to plant
trees. The affected farmers also have a group to fight for their rights.
We don’t understand how the Forest Department can take the land, because it is used as farmland. It
can’t just be taken and transferred to a forest. And as we have registration papers and tax receipts for
our land, we can prove it is used as farmland.
Since 2013, we are trying to get our land back. When we learned that the military was releasing land
they had been grabbed to be returned to the original owners, we decided that we had to take action.
The military releases the land, they transfer it to the Ministry of Home Affairs, and it should be given
back to the farmers through the GAD. It should be returned according to the procedure. But we know
the GAD in our area is not working properly. They do not respect the people. The GAD is also close to
the military. They have told us that the military does not want to return the land because of the security
of the Moe Byae Dam. But they did not grab land that is much closer to the dam. Our land is quite far
from the dam, and other people’s land is in between our land and the dam. So we think that they are
not telling us the truth. Also, the dam has been built in 1974, and only in 1991 they grabbed our land.
We think they want to keep the land because it is beside a good transportation route. Maybe they think
that after the NCA, they can benefit from the land for business. We don’t know this, they would never
tell us, but we wonder why they really want to keep the land if they are not using it.
We believe it is not right that our land is not returned but given to other people or the Forest
Department. It is our right to be recognized as the original owners and work our land and make our own
decisions.
We have written a lot of letters. Mostly we did not get any answer.
We applied to register our land and get Form number 7. For this we went to the Village Tract GAD in
Moe Byae. On April 29, 2014 the Township GAD ordered the Village Tract GAD to measure the land. The
Township GAD clerk in Pekhon has made a report to the Paddyland and other Land grabbing
Investigation Commission founded by Pyitaungsu Hluttaw at Nay Pyi Taw.
There is a list on which is clearly indicated which land belongs to which farmer. It also says who should
solve this issue, and there is a letter of instruction to the Township GAD to solve this problem.
14
But again, there was no reaction.
But after this activity, they came to measure the land.
We also made two demonstrations. On March 28, 2014, more than 1000 people demonstrated. We had
permission for this demonstration. We made a speech and gave the message that we want our land
back. We asked the president to solve our problem. We demanded that the rights of farmers are
protected, and that our rights are not abused. We also protested against the land grabbing and that we
should be paid compensation. We again demonstrated with 500 farmers on May 2, 2014. We made the
same demands again. Nobody got arrested for doing the demonstration. But we also did not have any
results.
In 2014, the military told the GAD to tell us farmers, we are not allowed to use the land. In 2015, they
gave the same message, but now directly to us. They said that if we work on the land, they will bring us
to court under article 447 of the Criminal Law. They will charge us with trespassing. This made us afraid,
so we thought we should stop working on the land.
By then, in May, we attended a workshop, and learned a lot of new things about the law and about our
rights. This gave us the courage to start working on the land again. Since we are doing that, the military
comes to take our photographs when we are working on the land. They also threaten us that they will
destroy our crops. But we continue to work on the land. We are determined to get our land back.
We applied for Form number 7 at the Village GAD for the land that is turned into a forest. The Village
GAD ordered the Land Registration Committee to measure the land. They did this from 11 to 13
September 2014. On January 1, 2015, the Forestry Department came to investigate. They told us it was
impossible for us to register the land because it was forest land. They offered us to share the forest as a
community forest. But this is not what we want.
The military claims they have paid some compensation to some of us. But nobody received this
compensation. So we decided to go to the army and ask for evidence. We met with a Captain of
battalion 422, who showed us a list with the names and signatures of the farmers who received
compensation. This was a strange list: the list was old, but the signatures were new. It had no official
stamp, no ID numbers of the farmers and when we checked with the farmers who were on the list, we
discovered that the signatures were fake.
We called a meeting to discuss the compensation, and invited the Township GAD, our MPs, The Minster
of Kayah Affairs, the Village Elders and all the farmers. Only the farmers and the Elders came to the
meeting.
We wanted to do a press conference about this case in Pekhon in May, but we did not get permission to
do that. We did do a press conference in Yangon, about the compensation case, on June 12, 2015. We
organised it with assistance from the 88 Generation. We shared our story and our statement.
This year (2015), we already put a case to the Moe Byae Village Tract Land Use Management Committee
for Dispute Settlement for the land taken by the Forestry Department and the organizations.
This case we do with support of the Karenni Farmer Union and the MPA. We also had help form a lawyer
from Loikaw. We have good proof, all 112 farmers applied for Form number 1 and all had evidence of
ownership of the land. For the farmers who have no land tax receipts or crop tax receipt, we have made
recommendation letters to show that they own their land. We formed a committee of farmers to do this
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 15
case. When we brought our case to the dispute settlement, we prepared everything and presented our
evidence. The Village Tract Land Management Committee has to investigate and make a decision. There
is no time limit for this investigation. But once they announced their decision, we can object to it within
30 days.
If we object, the case has to go to the Township Land Management Committee who has to make the
decision. Again, we can object and then it has to go to the District Land Management Committee, and
after that the State Level. The problem with this procedure is that we, the farmers, have no influence on
the decision. All the Land Management Committees have a farmer representative, but we don’t know
who he is. He is appointed by the GAD and is not a real farmer representative. We want to elect our
representative, so we can be sure that he really represents us and is working for our interest. How can
we trust the Land Use Management Committee to make a fair decision if we have no voice in the
decision making process?
These decisions, that directly influence our future, should be made in such a way that we can have a
voice, through a representative elected by all the farmers. We want to be part of every step in the
procedure and get open and complete information on what is going on. So we can check if the decisions
are according to the law. This way of decision making also avoids that decisions are influenced by the
benefit of some people at the expense of others. We will have more equality and our life will be better
this way.
Our next action is to send all the evidence to open another case for Dispute Settlement. We want this
problem solved, and we believe that according to the law we have the right to get our land back. We
want to return to living our life and support our families and rebuild our community as farmers on our
own land.
Overview of the letters we wrote:
. 2013, June 25: to Chief Minister of Shan State. Request to officially be able to work on the land that
is not used by military: the 264,5 acres belong to 66 farmers, we want to apply for Form number 7.
Signed by all 59 farmers. No reply
. 2013, September 14: To the Chief Minister and Farm and other Land Grabbing Investigation
Commission of the Union Parliament in Nay Pyi Taw on our case. No Reply
. 2013, December 22: to chairman of the Land Management and Investigation committee Taunggyi. In
this letter we ask to be allowed to work on our land and that all the land that is not used should be
returned to us, the original owners who have been working there since 1982. No reply.
. 2014, January 7: To U Min Aung Hlaing, explaining about our case and that we want our land back.
No reply.
. 2014, June 20: to Officer of Township Department of Forestry, Pekhon. We request to officially be
able to work on our land and we want to have Form number 7. With list of all 59 farmers that farm in
the forest area.
. 2014, July 27: to Township GAD Department Pekhon. We request Land Registration through Form
number 7.
. 2014, December 15: to Chairman Township Land Management Committee Pekhon, we request for
help in getting Form number 7 (this letter is on behalf of the group of farmers of the 264,5 acres that
are now used by various organizations). No reply.
. 2015, March 1: We wrote to the President, explaining our case and ask for his help. No reply.
16
.
.
.
.
2015, May 29: to State Director Environmental Preservation and Forestry Department Shan State;
President Thein Sein; Vice President U Nyain Tun; U Shwe Mann; Chief minister of Shan State. In this
letter we say we want to get our land that is grabbed by the Forest Department back and we want
Form number 7. No reply
2015, June 11: to Chairman Reform and Modernize Development Commission from Union Parliament
Nay Pyi Taw. About the land that is turned into forest land. We informed the committee about the
situation and ask the land back. No reply.
2015, June 11. To Chairman Reform and Modernization Commission of the Hluttaw Nay Pyi Taw.
About the land that is used by the various organizations. We informed the committee about the
situation and ask their land back. No reply.
2015, June 14. To Minister of Kayan Affairs. Request Form number 7 by the group of 59 farmers of
the 264,5 acres. No reply.
Unused land – Moe
Byae disputed land
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 17
3. Thein Nyi Township, Koung Houl Village Tract, Nam Hu Taung Village
In 1989 Brigade 323 Infantry grabbed 100 acres of land from 33 farmers.
From 1989 the military has occupied our land. They grabbed
100 acres of land in our area. Four villages were affected by
this. 2 villages had to relocate. They were offered other land,
but not everybody liked the new land and they moved to
other places.
Part of our land was used by the military to make barracks and
fields for the soldiers of Battalion 323. We were forced to
work for the military, clear the bushes and cut the trees for
two, three years. We did not have to work for the military
every day, but if they called us, we had to obey.
In 1995 another piece of land was grabbed for the medical
corps. We made an agreement with General Myint Hlaing that
we would build three barracks with six rooms each, and in
return the military would not grab more land. We build the
three barracks with our own money and labor, the military
only paid the material for the roof. We have no proof of this,
Map of Thein Ny disputed landi
because the agreement was made verbally, it was never put on
paper. The medical corps came in 1995 and used land from the
Battalion 323, but also grabbed more land. After this, the medical corps came to the land that was used
by Battalion 323. The Communication Battalion first used the land of the Medical Corps, but later took
more land, and in a later stage they grabbed yet more land. The Communication battalion wanted to
extend their area and grabbed another 10 acres.
Our village Nam Hu Toun village in Kaung Kho village tract, lost about 50 acres of land. We don’t know
exactly how much, but for 41,5 acres we have tax receipts from the land registration department. For
about 10 acres we have no receipts.
33 farmers in our villages were affected by the land grabbing.
We always kept working on the land that was not used by the military. After the land was grabbed by
the military, we still got tax orders for our land from the Land Management Department. But we also
had to pay rent to the military. At first, this rent was 2 baskets of rice per acre for paddy, but for our
vegetable fields we had to pay in cash. We never got receipts for the rent we paid.
One basket is about 25 kilogram. In a good year, we can harvest around 50 baskets per acres, in a bad
year, it is 30 to 40 baskets. For our vegetable crops, we have to pay 40.000 MMK per acre every year. In
a good year our harvest brings in 150.000 MMK per acre. In a bad year only 80.000 MMK per acre. This
is our family income; with this money we also have to pay for seed and fertilizer.
The rent we have to pay to the army is a big burden for us.
They should return the land that is not used by them to us. But till now, they haven’t done that.
The army already released our land to be given back to us, but the brigade 323 ignored this.
18
In 2014, the chief commander of our area changed. In January 29 of that year, they send captain Kyaw
San from the Communication battalion and a team to measure our land again. We are not sure how
many acres they measured, but they fenced the area. This area was bigger than the originally grabbed
land. They added about 10 acres.
Because there is some unused land in the area of the Communication battalion, we asked them to
return this land to us. We think that we asked our land back made them very angry. We think this is why
they try to extend their area with 10 acres to the land where our houses are. They also ordered us to
stop working on the land. We wrote a letter on February 13, 2014 to the North East Area Commander in
Lashio to ask him to help solve our problem, and that we want to use our land again. We did not get an
answer.
They put up a fence. This new area included 5 houses. This caused a problem between us and the
military: we protested because they took more land, and included the area were the houses were.
We asked why they came to fence the land. They said they had been ordered to do this. They showed us
a map of our area, on this map were instructions of the area commander on what land should be
fenced. The map was from the Land Use Department, dated from 2010.
The Land Use Department has to update the land use map every year to record changes in the situation.
They didn’t do that and used an old map.
We wanted the army to put the fence in a different place. On June 9, 2014 we wrote a letter to our MP
U Saing Win Khaing who is in the lower house for Thein Nyi Town. In this letter we tell about the
measurements and we tell him about the agreement that the military would grab no more land from us.
Our MP advised us to remove the fence poles and start working on the land and not to pay tax to the
military anymore. We followed his advice. We removed the fence. When we protested and removed the
poles, the military took pictures of all the villagers who were present at the protest, but so far, nothing
has happened.
The only thing the military said is that the land is now disputed land and therefore nobody is allowed to
work on the land till the dispute is solved.
But in the end, they put the fence in such a way, that the 5 houses were at our side of the fence, but the
fence was right beside the houses. The area inside the fence is about 10 acres more than the area they
had originally grabbed.
After our protests, we stopped getting land tax receipts. If we can’t show these receipts, it is difficult to
apply for registration (Form number 7). We don’t know why we don’t get the tax orders anymore.
According to the Land Law of 2012 we should get compensation if our land is grabbed. When we
approached the Brigade 323 to ask for this compensation, they said they already had paid compensation
to the village GAD. He did not have any document to prove this to us. We went to check with the village
GAD, but there they denied they ever got anything. We don’t know what has really happened, this is
very hard for us to find out, but we do know that we, the farmers, never got any compensation.
From 2014 we had to pay 20 baskets rent per acre for paddy land, and 40.000 MMK per acre for our
vegetable land. That is too much, we can’t afford to pay this high amount. But if we don’t pay, the Bogyi
Kyaw Thu Hlaing from brigade 323 comes to collect it. He comes in a car, with soldiers. Though they
have no guns, we are still afraid. When we are not there, they just go into our houses and our stores and
take what they want. We are not allowed to measure the baskets ourselves, they do the measuring, so
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 19
we don’t even know how much they take. We never get any receipts for this. They just come and take
our harvest. We feel we are only working for the army, they take so much we don’t have enough to
support our family. Sometimes we can’t afford to get seed and fertilizer. Sometimes we have a sick
person and we have to pay for medical treatment. Then we ask if they can reduce the rent, but they
never do. There is no space for bargaining. They can decide how much they take, there are no rules to
regulate rent prices. We have to pay whatever they ask, we have no choice. We have to work on the
land, because if we don’t, how can we feed our families?
Our community is suffering because of this, some of our people had to go to other countries to find
work there.
We know the army already released our land in September 2013. They made an announcement of this.
It should be given back to us immediately.
We have send a letter to the Nay Pyi Taw Hluttaw, the National Farm and other Land Grabbing
Investigation Commission. We sent this letter on December 3, 2014 and explained our case and our
situation. We never got any answer.
On December 8, 2014, we send the same letter to the Chairperson of the Land Grabbing Investigation
Commission in Nay Pyi Taw. But again, we got no answer.
The military has all the power in our area. We are a black area. The army is fighting the TNLA. They are
based in Kokang, and our village road is part of their supply route. Therefore, there is a heavy military
presence in our area. Our MP also can‘t do anything for us. He has no power.
We have four villages in the area. One village is close to the military area, they are more safe than the
villages further away. Also because a lot of Burman people live in this village. They are closer to the
soldiers than the Shan people. They can bargain and sometimes get benefit from the soldiers. The Shan
and other ethnic people never get that. We feel we are not treated equally. They can threaten us any
time they want. In 2015, one man did not pay the rent. When he started to prepare his field for planting,
6 soldiers with guns came on motorbikes. They said to him that the next time he would not pay, they
would shot him. We know they can do this.
Because we are still in a civil war in our area, we always have to be afraid. We are afraid of the soldiers.
We are afraid there will be fighting again, and we are afraid of the landmines. Both parties put
landmines around our road area. We never know who puts the mines, and nobody informs or warns us
where they are. People in our community have been hurt by the mines, people have died.
We need peace, we have been suffering from the fighting for too long. We want our area to be under
the government, not under the army. The army never cares about the law, they don’t care about our
rights. We are afraid to demand our rights, because we never know what can happen. They can shoot us
any time they want, they can accuse us of supporting the TNLA, they can use us as porters or for forced
labor. We are never safe.
Because the TNLA is excluded from the NCA, we don’t know what is going to happen. We want to have a
peaceful community.
In our village we have some people who are educated. So we have learned about our rights. In the other
two villages, people are more afraid, because they don’t know about their rights. We want our four
villages to be united, so we can fight for our rights together. We are farmers, we just want to be allowed
20
to farm our land like we are used to. We want to register our land to be secure for our livelihood. We
are happy to pay the land use tax, but we can’t afford to pay these high rents to the army. It is our land,
we should not have to pay rent at all.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 21
4. Moe Ne Township, Mike Hai Village Tract, Maezali Myaint Village
Starting from 1993, 5000 acres of land from 353 farmers was grabbed by a company and never used by
the company according to the contract.
Starting in 1995, in a period of three years, 5000 acres belonging to 353 farmers were taken from us by
the Shwe Lin Young company. In 1995, they first took 500 acres, in 1996, 1997 and 1998, they took 1500
acres each year. The land that was grabbed includes paddy fields. The company has a license to make an
agriculture business on our land. The license is issued on February 14 1995, with a validity till 2012. It
gives the company permission to use the 5000 acres as they are considered to be empty land according
to the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law 2012.
The company wants to grow cashew and seasonal crops.
The license has rules and regulations included. It states that the land can’t be divided. The project has to
start within 4 years and the land can’t be used for anything else but cashew and seasonal crops. The
permit also says that the land can’t be sold, transferred or pawned to other persons.
Daw San San, also known as Daw Yi Shan is the lady from the company that we have to deal with. She is
doing the project. The company never did anything on the land. What happened after our land was
grabbed is that we continued working on the land, but had to pay rent to the company. We had to pay
15.000 MMK per year per acre. Every year, after the harvest, Daw San San or one of her family members
came to our houses and collect the rent. We never got any receipt or proof that we paid her. We did not
pay land tax before the land was grabbed, and also not afterwards. This makes it hard for us to prove
that the land is our land. But this we only learned later on, when we got a new government and new
laws were made. Before that, we didn’t know anything. We had no choice. We had to continue to work
on the land as before, because we had to feed our families. We didn’t like it, but we never knew how to
protest.
In 2012, our Village Chief called a meeting with all the farmers. He had learned about the new Land Law
and explained to us that the company was not working according to the law. He said to us: don’t pay
rent anymore. He also explained that Daw San San never did according to her contract, and that
therefore we didn’t have to pay the rent. We are lucky to have a Village Chief like that, because
otherwise, we would never know about the law and our rights.
After the meeting, the Village GAD went to meet with the company to tell Daw San San the news.
This is when the conflict started, because she didn’t accept what the Village GAD said.
She had never done anything on the land, but now, in February 2014, they came with a tractor and
started to plow a piece of the land. We took pictures of this and we made a complaint. February 24,
2014, a first investigation was made by the Township Land Use Management Committee about the use
of the tractor. Then we found out that Daw San San had submitted pictures she had made of our crops
to the Township Land Management Committee to show what she was doing on the land. She used our
crops to show her activities, claiming she used 3350 acres of land for her project. The investigation
concluded that Daw San San had not done anything since 1995 and that she had broken all the rules in
her agreement. The investigation resulted in an order from the Township Land Use Management
Department in May to investigate and report back before June 2.
22
We know this because the farmer representative U Khain Soe Masali of Myaing Village Tract shared this
with us.
On May 27, 2014, we wrote a letter of complaint about our case to the Township Development
Assistance Committee, the Township Land Management Committee, the MPs, officials from the Land
Registration Department in Moe Ne and to Maik Heing, Na Kan, Nam Mow Swam, and Kon Na, who are
village GAD.
On June 10, the Township Assistant Development Committee wrote a recommendation on our land use.
And on July 11, 2014, the Township Land Management Committee reported to the District Land
Management Committee.
After that, we had a meeting with the company. In this meeting we asked Daw San San to show us her
evidence that she is allowed to use the land. She showed us a list with description of the crops she
grows, signed by the Land Registration Department Moe Ne. She also showed a document from the
Land Registration Department, made by the Village Tract Land Registration Department clerk of Moe
Ne, dated February 14, 1995, which reports on an investigation of the land that was done by the
department and says that the land she wants is virgin and vacant land. She also had a map of the Land
Registration Department from 1993-1994, that also shows our land as virgin land.
But we were not satisfied with this proof.
After this meeting, the company didn’t take any official action, but tried to persuade us not to register
our land by promising us assistance to get a registration card and promises a resettlement for Kon Na
New Village. But we didn’t trust those promises, and we complaint to the Village Tract GAD who wrote a
letter to Daw San San to tell her to stop persuading us to not apply for Form number 7. He also writes
that her approach is not the right approach to deal with a land dispute.
Now, Daw San San doesn’t come to our area much anymore.
We want to make our livelihood secure. We don’t want the risk that other people can do like the Shwe
Lin Young company and come to our land and claims it as empty land.
The Township Development Assistance Committee made a letter of recommendation for us on June 10,
2014, signed by U Myo Thant, chairman of the Township Development Assistance Committee, and sent
it to the District Land Management Committee. In this letter, they say that the Shwe Lin Young company
is not working in line with the rules and regulations and that the farmers should be given back their
land. He also confirms that we have been working on this land.
In December 2014, 5 farmers wrote on behalf of all of us to the Township Land Registration Department
to apply for Form number 7. We collected statements and recommendations to show we had always
worked this land. By the end of December 2013, 400 families were affected by the land grabbing,
because of population growth. (This was reported by the Township Land Registration Department in one
of their investigation reports on December 29, 2013).
4 times, an investigation was made. The first investigation, the Township Land Use Management
Committee came to us and talked to us about what land was ours and what crops we plant. We found
out that the company claimed it had planted 350 acres. But that is not true, the company never did
anything. We, the farmers, did it. Daw San San only came to collect the rent. All the 353 farmers said
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 23
they had been working the land since before it was grabbed. But because of the security situation, the
Land Use Department never came to check, so there is no record.
The results of the investigation were sent to the District Land Use Management Committee and they
checked it and send it on to the Shan State government. The last investigation was on February 24,
2014.
Many letters have been send by us and we also got letters from the concerned departments on our
case.
On January 16, 2015, U Myint Hliang, the Secretary of the Nay Pyi Taw Land Use Management
Committee, issued a general order that all farmers should be able to work on their land officially, and
that farmers should be given Form number 7 before March 31, 2015. This order was send to all regions
and states.
This deadline now is long past. There was no announcement that they extend the registration process,
but we can still apply for Form number 7.
On January 27, 2015, our MP U Sai Maung Kyi wrote to the Shan State parliament to inquire why it took
so much time to issue the Form number 7.
On April 25, 2014, the Shan State Chief Minister issued a letter to the District Land Use Management
Department that they had to follow the rules and procedures of the 2012 Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land
Management Law.
On May 5, 2015, the Shan State government issued an order to the Village Tract Land Use Management
Committee that said that Daw San San was not allowed to use the land because she doesn’t fulfill the
rules of the agreement she made. Because she didn’t follow the rules, the government took the land
back. The letter also mentioned the 2012 Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law, Art. 22c.
We now know we have to apply for a permit to use our land under the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land
Management Law of 2012. Only if we have this permit, we can apply for Form number 7.
On the Land Use Map from our area, our and is indicated as vacant land. This map is from 1993-1994,
and was never updated. Besides that, the situation in 1993 is also not given correctly, because we were
working the land in that period. It should have been indicated on the map.
For permission to use Vacant, Fallow or Virgin land, we have to apply directly in Nay Pyi Taw, because all
vacant land belongs to the government. No official from any department informed us what we had to
do. For us, it is very difficult to find out what to do, especially when we have to do something directly
with the Central Government. They told us that we had to apply for a permit to use the land, but we
were not offered any assistance or help.
Assisting us should be the duty of civil servants, like our Village Chief helped us with the Land Law. But
he also doesn’t know exactly. The civil servants did their job by doing investigation and sending letters,
but only after we took any action. They never gave us any awareness. They follow the rules, but forgot
about the people. If we don’t have awareness and knowledge, it is very easy for people to cheat us and
take our land. This makes us very insecure and worried.
The procedure for application to Nay Pyi Taw takes a long time. All the information has to go from the
Central Land Use Management Committee in Nay Pyi Taw to all the lower levels who all have to check.
The Township Land Use management Committee has to order the Village and Village Tract Land Use
24
Management Committees to check with the farmers and measure the land and also update the map.
We can check the map and see if we agree. The final decision whether we can use the land is made by
the Central Land Use Management Committee in Nay Pyi Taw.
This process takes a long time, and we are worried that in the meantime the government is going to use
our land for their own project or give it to another company. We have no protection.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 25
5. Pin Long Township, Ha Nan Village Tract, Wom Meng Village
Land grabbing by Yadana World Mining Company for antimony prospecting which failed. Land not
retuned to original owners but used by person in power for personal benefit.
In 2008, the Yadana World Mining Company grabbed 59.92 acres of land from 27 farmers. The Yadana
World Mining Company was given permission for their project on July 24, 2008 by the Land Registration
Department of Pin Long, the SPDC of Shan State, the Lei Ling District SPDC, the Branch District GAD, the
Forestry Department of Lei Ling and the Pin Long Forestry Department in Taunggyi. All these
departments wrote a letter of no objection. The permission was to use the land for testing for antimony
for a period of 3 years. U Aung Win, the chairperson of the He Nan Village Tract SPDC signed the
permission to test for antimony for the Yadana Company.
The permission was given because the Departments and the GAD considered the land virgin land. But it
wasn’t virgin land, it is our land.
We learned that the company was going to use our land when U Aung Win called the farmers for a
meeting in our monastery and announced that the Yadana World Mining Company was going to test for
antimony. At that meeting, he promised us that in case the company was not satisfied with the testing
result because of the quality of the antimony, our land would be given back to us. He also said that if the
Company would find good quality antimony, we would get compensation because the company would
buy our land. These promises were given to us only by talking. We don’t have a written agreement.
We have been working on our land for a long time, but sometimes we could not use the land, because in
our area there was a lot of fighting between the army and the SSA/RCSS. Our land is close to a military
compound. It was not always safe for us to work on our land because of the fighting. Still today our area
is a ‘brown area’, and we don’t feel safe because of this. Because we are farming in our traditional way,
we don’t have evidence that we worked on the land. This is why they can say this land is virgin land.
The Yadana World Mining Company did some testing, but very little. Only a few holes were made. The
antimony they found was of bad quality. 2010 they started to use bulldozers and prepare the land for a
tea plantation. Our gardens and fields were destroyed by this action. We complained about this to the
sub Township GAD, and they ordered the Company to stop using the land for a tea plantation. because
they are not allowed to use the land for another purpose but mining.
But it was not returned to us. Instead, U Aung Win, the Village Tract GAD chairman took it. He uses it for
a corn plantation. He knows about the rules for virgin land, and he knows that we, the farmers who
worked on the land, have no evidence that we worked on the land. We don’t pay land tax or crop tax, so
we don’t have the receipts to prove this land is our land. We are traditional farmers. But we do have a
letter of recommendation from our village chief U Sai Leh, that declares that we have been working on
our land before it was grabbed. In our village we have 80 houses. 27 families are affected by the land
grabbing. We now only have some land around our houses where we grow vegetables, and we can use
some village land. But life is hard for us. It is difficult to survive without our land. Some of us sell snacks,
others have to become migrant workers. This is not good for our community. The 53 families in our
village who are not affected by this case support us. They have made statements for us that we worked
on the land.
26
Because of his position, U Aung Win, Chairman of the He Nan Village tract GAD, could apply for a
registration so he can be the owner of our land. U Aung Win could do like this, because he knew our
situation, as he is also the person responsible to record our acreage and our crop yield. He could do this,
because we were afraid of him, because of our history and because it was still the time of the military
government and we had no protection against the people in power. But we learned a lesson when we
lost our village land some years earlier in another land grabbing case. At that time we did not protest.
But we learned a lesson.
So, with this case, we complained, because we knew that what happened was not right. When they took
our land, we were promised that it would be given back if the antimony was bad quality. But instead, U
Aung Win applied for registration for our land. We know this because the Shan State Land Use
Department announced that U Aung Win had applied for our 59.92 acres because he wanted to start a
tea plantation. This announcement was put on our village announcement board on June 30, 2010.
We had 30 days to object to this decision. All 27 of us decided to write a letter on July 16, 2010, to
object. We delivered this letter personally to the Shan State Land Use Department, with copies to the
State SPDC, the Army 513 because this army is not so far from our Land, to Brigade 513/2, to the District
SPDC no. 2 an no. 5 MI, to the Special Branch, the GAD, the Police, the Township Land Use Department,
the Agriculture Department, the Village Tract GAD and Chairman, and the Village chief. We did not get
any proof that we delivered the letter on time, within the 30 days for objection. We think this is not
good. They should give a letter or note to us confirming that we delivered the letter, so we can proof
later that we were within the time limit of 30 days with our letter. Now, we have nothing, we have only
what we now to be the truth, but they can easily say they never got the letter if they want to say like
that. On June 18 we all went to the Township GAD, and told officer U Hla Mwint about our land and the
history of our land and that we had worked on it for a long time already. We told him we want our land
back.
We also wrote a letter, on July 21, 2010, to the Branch GAD Department in Pin Long to ask for our land
back. We attached a list with our names and how many acres of land we use. We were afraid that, even
though we objected, U Aung Min will register our land in his name.
U Aung Win has passed away in 2011 or 2012, we don’t remember the date, but his wife uses the land
now. It is used for a corn plantation. We don’t work on the plantation. They use their own labour. Our
land is now disputed land, because we are applying for registration, and U Aung Win’s wife is applying
for registration. If land is disputed like this, nobody is allowed to work on it. But U Aung Win’s wife is still
using the land. We don’t understand how this can happen.
We wrote a letter on July, 23, 2014 to the District Land Use Management Committee. In this letter we
told what we have already done for our situation and that we want our land back. We attached the
signatures of all the farmers.
We have written a lot of other letters, to all the concerned persons, to share our worry and to ask our
land back. But we do not get many answers, even though the people from the Township, from the
District and from the State have come to investigate. They already did investigation for 6 times, but we
were never told the outcome of the investigation. The problem for us is, that after investigation, they
report to the higher level, to the State Land Use Management Committee and the Chief Minister of Shan
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 27
State. They have meetings in which they make recommendations on their decision and give instructions
to the lower levels to act on the recommendations. But the meetings are not public. There is a farmer
representative present in these meetings, but we don’t know him. We have not elected him. He is
appointed. He doesn’t represent us, but he is making decision about our life and our future. We don’t
like this. We want to be represented by a real farmer, someone we know, someone we trust. Someone
who can work on our behalf and who can share information with us.
If they make a decision, we should be informed in an official letter. But we never got any official letter.
In the meantime, we worry about the land registration. The situation is very difficult for us, many of us
don’t speak the Myanmar language, only the Shan language. But we have a spokesperson who is
educated and whose father is one of us 27 farmers who lost the land. He helps us with our case.
We also found out that on the land use map for our area, our land is given as vacant land. This map is
not an updated map.
On 23 July, 2014, we asked our MP U Sai Lwin in Leh Keh to help us. He wrote a letter for us to the Shan
State Chief Minister and the Shan State Land Use Department. He asked for an investigation again,
because we, the farmers, have complained according to the rules and regulation and the guidelines for
vacant land use. These rules say that in a case like our case, an investigation needs to be done. U Sai
Lwin send a copy of this letter to the President, to the Agriculture and Irrigation Department, to the
District GAD and District Land Use Management Committee.
We have again written a letter on July 3, 2015, to ask why our case takes so long and why we don’t get
any results from the investigation. We send the letter to the District GAD and District Land Use
Management Committee, with a copy to the President and the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation at
the Union level and the Shan State Land Management Committee. We attached the list that shows what
land belongs to which farmer.
We have tried everything that is possible for us to do, we send many letters, but we are still waiting and
we still can’t use our land. We want to start the application for registration process, we want to secure
our livelihood. We want this case solved.
We send an objection letter on October 16, 2015 and we made sure we got an acknowledgement of
receipt: The Township Land Use Management Committee gave us receipt with Nr. 134. We send
another letter on October 22, 2015 to the Township Land Management Committee to announce we are
going to open a case for land dispute mediation on our issue.
28
6. Kyaung Tung Township – Mine Lat Village Tract
Land grabbing of 2750 acres for coal power plant and coalmining project by the government affecting 7
villages and around 3000 people. 4 villages will be removed, 435-450 households (farmers)
2250 people will be affected.
Since 2000, companies have been testing in our area, without a license. At that time, U Thein Sein was
the Commander of Eastern Shan State, but we don’t know if he gave permission for the testing.
In 2013 the manager of Htoo Company approached the villagers and told that they wanted to start
extracting coal. He asked our opinion about that. We asked how many acres he wanted to use, and he
answered that he would use 440 acres of empty and vacant land. We didn’t understand this because we
don’t have any vacant or empty land, all the land is used for crops, paddy, cattle. So we told him that we
don’t have land for him to use. The company tried to get the consent of the village Elders, but also
promised that if we would not agree, they would stop. The elders did not give consent so this company
gave up.
But this was not the end of it all. On June 4, 2014, the company took some of their materials to the
camp they had built in 2000 in Pen San Kya village. The next day we protested against their presence.
Round 60 villagers went and told that they do not agree with this, but we have no minutes f this
meeting. Members of the NLD, the SNLD, the SNDP, the Shan Literature and Culture Association and the
community came together. We asked the company to show their license, but the company answered
they did not have any license or permission. We thought that without a license, they could not start
testing.
The next day, June 5, the District GAD invited around 20 members of the community for a meeting, but
60 persons went. U Thin Maung Shwe from the district GAD and U Thin U from Township GAD where at
GAD Office at Kyaung Tong. The community told the GAD they had never been informed about the
project, and then the District GAD apologized. But he explained that they have come only to do some
testing. Before they will get a license, a long time will pass, he said. But we objected, and the
company stopped their activities in village 4, 5, 6 and 7, because these were the villages that were
protesting. But they went on to village 1, 2 and 3.
Now, in 2015, they are resuming the project. The project has not really started yet. But we want to
prevent it from starting. We know the problems of other communities when they have big mining in
their area. We now the government and the companies make many promises, but they never keep
them. We know of other communities whose land was grabbed and who were relocated. Their lives
have become very difficult.
We don’t want that to happen to our communities.
We had a meeting in January 2015 with Daw Nan Nwae Mya, EC Member from SNDP at Tachileik, a
party member from Kyaung Tong and U Sai Aik Paung , the Minister of Forestry and Mining of Shan
State. He didn’t come officially to talk to us, but as a member of the SNDP party. He promised to us that
these kind of projects would not proceed when the community is against it; not without the consent of
the community.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 29
Because the company has secured a testing license, they must have secured the 10 signatures in the
Village Tract from 10 villagers, which they need according to the law to be able to claim consent. We
think they may have paid money, put pressure or made promises to these villagers.
We think it is very unfair that 10 people can decide the future of 7 villages. We think that is not right.
We are collected signatures from the people in our villages who oppose this development. Already we
collected 614 signatures in 4 of the villagers that will suffer from this project. We think the opinions and
the feelings of 614 people can’t be ignored because 10 villagers signed. Especially not because the way
these 10 signatures are collected is unclear and very sensitive to corruption.
Our community had a meeting with the owner of Naw Eh Company from Thailand and Sit Naing Win
Company Manager and with the U Sai Tun Yin from Shan State Ministry of Electricity. In this meeting
(May 8, 2015) the minister said: you can chose any place you want to go.
It gives us a bad feeling that the Minister from the Shan State government says we can chose any place
we want to go to. It is the responsibility of our government to organise relocation for us. With substitute
houses, substitute farmland and land for us to rebuild our villages.
All this kind of talk makes us worried, because we don’t want to leave. We are afraid that the
government will force us to move without our consent. That they will start the project no matter what
and that our lives will be destroyed.
We send a letter to the Chief Minister of Shan State and the Ministry of Mining at the Union Level on
June 15, 2015. We express our worry that a license is issued on the basis of 10 signatures. We also say
that the process of getting these 10 signatures is not transparent. We attached the signatures we
collected to show that many people don’t agree with the project. We send this letter to remind the
Chief Minister and the Minister of Mining that we have not given out consent.
We send the letter to the Chief Minister, and the letter to the Minister of Mining was sent for us by
MATA on July 8, 2015.
We did not get an answer, but on July 6, 2015 Kyaung Tung based officials, the Kyaung Tung District
Mining Department, four geologists from Thailand from the Geological Studies Department and Mineral
Searching and Testing Department, came to examine the environment and took samples of the earth.
They tested at Wonton village, Mont Swam Mai village, Wam Loun Village, Wam Kam village, (Mine Hlat
Village Tract), Wam Taung village, Wam Taung Lumpoodum camp and Pan San Kyat village.
They tested and measured an area of 20.810 acres and reported on this on July 7, 2015.
We are worried. This is the first step of the project. We are afraid that however much we object and
protest, they will ignore us.
We saw an announcement in the New Light of Myanmar of July 10, 2015 that the Myanmar Government
has made MoU/MoA with the Japanese government. This agreement is for cooperation and technical
assistance from the Japanese for making clean coal power plants. In the newspaper was a list of 14
planned project for power plants run on coal. Our area was mentioned in the list for a 660 megawatt
plant. Lampoodan is the company that will execute these projects. This makes us very worried.
We are afraid it is already decided that our villages will be turned into a coalmine. Without our consent.
30
Many people in our area have already completed the registration process for their land and have Form
number 7. But we have also many other types of land, like cemetery land, our school compound,
communal land like grazing land, communal forest, the church compound, our shifting cultivation land.
These lands are not recognized by the government, but they are very important for our communities. It
is what binds us together. We have tried to apply for Form 105, but that has been very difficult. We are
very worried for our future.
Village sign boards
Village view (top), rice fields (below)
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 31
Survey map – Kyaung
Tung mining locations
32
7. Railway project from Kyaung Tung to Moe Ne.
In 2009, 230,5 acres of land were grabbed from 67 farmers in Kyaung Tung area, and 230 acres were
grabbed from 41 families in Moe Ne Township, Naung Nyning Village Tract, for the construction of a
railway line from Kyaung Tung to Moe Ne.
The railway is developed from Nam Sam to Moe Ne to Kyaung Tung. Total length is around 200 to 210
miles. Development started in April 2009. It is a government project under the Ministry of
transportation – Railway Department. U Aung Min was the minister of this department in 2009, under
the SPDC. In 2010, the project was abandoned.
Kyaung Tung experience
On April 1, 2009 the groundwork for the railway in our area started. We were not informed about the
plan to make a railway on our land. We only found out our land was grabbed when they came to
measure the land and told us we had to move, the government was going to use our land. We were
ordered to vacate our land and our houses. Some of us got two weeks to prepare, others were only
informed a few days before they came with the bulldozers. We had no choice, if we would not move,
they would force us.
After they started measuring our land, we wrote a letter to the Shan State Peace and Development
Council on April 3, to protest against the taking of our land. We never got an answer to that letter.
It was almost time for the harvest, so we asked if they could wait till we got our paddy from the fields.
But they refused and destroyed our crops with the bulldozers. The people who lost their house, 17
families, were given some money to move, but very little. They also gave the 17 families who lost their
house a block of land. (A block of land is 60 x 40 feet). We had official registration for our houses but we
did not get any compensation, only the block of land to make a new house. Nobody got any
compensation for the farmland.
The Land Use Department made a list of how much land was taken from which people. The list included
religious land, army land, university land as well as our farmland.
To construct the railway, they made a dyke on the land. They used the earth from the fields next to the
track to create the dyke. This is why they needed a lot of land. They also needed land for the
construction of platforms and station buildings, and staff quarters, and signposts.
One of us lost 7 acres of land. But this family only got this block of 60 x 40 feet in return. Nothing else.
He did not only lose his house, he also lost his livelihood. 51 farmers in our community did not get any
compensation at all.
On 18 December 2010, the railway station in Kyaung Tung was officially opened with a big ceremony.
We still have the signboard that was put up on that occasion.
Many of us were excited about the train, we had never seen a train before and now we had a chance to
travel in it. We had to pay 50 MMK to make the 6.6 mile journey to Wun Kaung, the next station on the
line. For us, this was expensive. [50 MMK in 2010 is comparable with 800 MMK in 2015]
The train rode for one month only. Than it stopped and never rode again. Now, instead of our land and
our houses, we have only overgrown tracks, rusty train carriages and empty stations.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 33
We don’t understand how this can happen. Why they can grab our land for a railway and then never
make a properly functioning line? They should make a plan for these kind of projects and give people
like us information about it so we can understand what is happening. If they want to take our land, we
need to know why and we need time to think and negotiate for a good solution.
We also want to know who is involved in this kind of construction. There should be openness from the
government side. We worry that maybe the people who make the decisions are connected to the
people who benefit directly from the project. We think that is not right, the people who make the
decisions should be working for the benefit of the people. Not their own benefit.
We also really want to be part of the decision making. We are the ones whose lives are changed, we are
the ones who lose our land and our houses. The houses were officially registered. We need to be able to
trust in these registrations. We are the owners. It is wrong to take our property like this.
We have all these problems, and for what? For a railway is can’t be used and was never finished.
Already the situation is like this for 5 years.
Now that we have the new Land Law from 2012, we know that when the government takes land for a
project, but doesn’t use it for 3 years, the land should be given back to the original owners. We can see
with our own eyes that the railway is not finished and not functioning, but we don’t know if the project
is stopped. At the railway station in Kyaung Tung, there is still staff from the ministry of railroads. There
is no job, because there are no trains, but the staff is there, getting salary from the ministry. We are
confused: if the project is stopped, why do they keep the staff? It is very difficult to get good
information. And if the project is not stopped, what is the plan? We have a right to know what is
happening.
We have tried many times to get information, but we never get any answer.
When we heard that a person from the Land Confiscation Investigation Commission from the
Pyidaungsu Hluttaw in Nay Pyi Taw came to Kyaung Tung to investigate on another case. So we decided
to go and meet him and present our problem. An investigation was made by the members from the
Committee for Shan and Kayah.
We organized a meeting and decided that we needed to write another letter. In this letter we asked to
make a decision about our land according to the Land Law of 1894 and the Land Law of 2012. We send
this letter on May 25, 2015. If the project has stopped, they have to give the land back to us and give
compensation for the houses. If the project is not stopped, they also have to give compensation for our
land according to the law.
Three of the farmers have started working on their land again. But the rest of us are afraid to do that.
We did not get an answer to our letter yet. We don’t understand why we are treated like this.
Moe Ne Experience
In 2008 we learned that the Ministry of Railways was going to build a railroad in our area. There was a
meeting in the office of the Township GAD. The called all the Village GAD officers from the villages along
the intended railway to attend the meeting. They announced the plan to build the railway from Moe Ne
to Kyaung Tung. It would be a three year project. The GAD showed the order of the Ministry of Railways.
We were excited by the news. The railroad could be good for our community, if the train would go to
34
Thailand, we would be able to do business and we could also have opportunities because of the
travelers coming through our area.
So when they started grabbing our land for the railroad, we did not protest. We were not offered any
compensation, but we still didn’t protest.
The railway that runs through our area is 5 miles. For these 5 miles of railway, they have taken 230 acres
of our land. They made a dyke to lay the track. They used our land to construct the dyke. Because of
this, they needed many acres of our land.
In 2010 the project was stopped. They told us the project was stopped because the train was attacked
by one of the many armed groups in our area. This was another train, running from Moe Ne to Nam
Sam. This is 32 miles of railway, the old railway. The new railway was meant to connect to Kyaung Tung.
They were also working on the railway from there. Our railway and the Kyaung Tung railway were
meant to be connected. It is the same project.
The railway workers disappeared. These workers were not from our area, they were brought from other
places. All the building materials also disappeared. We were left with an empty station building and staff
barracks build on land that was grabbed, and 5 miles of empty railway track that ruined our land.
In 2012, after the new Land Law, the Land Use Management Committee came to investigate our land.
We never asked them to come, it was their initiative that they came. They measured the land of 30
farmers. But they forgot 6 farmers who were also affected. The people from the Land registration
Department told us they wanted to start the land registration process to get us Form number 7. They
came for our evidence. So some of us have Form number 7, but some of us are still waiting for the Form
number 7. Many, but not all of us, have evidence that the land belongs to us, we have Form number 105
or tax receipts. With this, we can start the Form number 7 process.
We never heard the results from the investigation.
We did not get the railway, but we did lose our land. It is ruined, we can’t use it anymore. Therefore we
want to be compensated for our damage. On 28 February 2015 we wrote a letter to the Township Land
Management Committee to ask them to come and investigate again, because during the first
investigation, they forgot 6 farmers. We also asked them to come and investigate in Maik Hi; Nam Maw
Swan; Naung Nyning and Won Hay, the other villages affected by the railway in our area. We asked
them to come and measure exactly, so we could apply to get grievance compensation. We attached the
list of the 30 farmers whose land already was measured, and one of us signed as representative of us all.
Also the 6 farmers whose land was not yet measured, signed.
Kyaung Tung – abandonned station
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 35
We did not ask for our land to be given back. The land is useless now. We want compensation.
But so far, we are ignored.
Kyaung Tung –
unused trains at
abandonned
station
Kyaung Tung –
unused railway
tracks
36
8. Hsipaw Township, Moe Tae Village Tract, Mang Kung Village
In 2001, 114 acres of land were grabbed (but only 100 acres are recognized) from 49 farmers by the
MEC to make a mine extracting material for cement making. The mine uses only 40 acres of the grabbed
land.
Our land was grabbed in 2001 because the MEC Company wanted to make a mine. The MEC is a
company owned by the military. The mine is to extract japson and limestone that are used to make
cement. 49 farmers in our community are affected. In 2005 the MEC called 11 of us who have tax
receipts to proof the land is theirs and told them: we will give you compensation of 50.000 MMK per
acre. We refused this, because the market price is much higher, it is 1 million MMK per acre. We
thought the compensation offer is not fair. But the MEC said that they would grab the land anyhow,
whether we liked the compensation offer or not. The 11 farmers had no choice but to take the
compensation.
The farmers who had no tax receipts, did not get any compensation at all.
There was no consultation, nobody ever asked us anything. We don’t know if any people signed to agree
to the company and the mine. This is a problem for us. In 1992 Mining Law and 1994 bylaws and
regulation it says that if 10 villagers and the village chief agree and sign they want a mining project, the
mine can start. We think that is very unfair. Because we are not given any good information before they
start, we can’t make a decision for the community. If they want to make a mine in a community, they
should inform the whole community, and we should decide together about this. Now we can never be
sure if the 10 people signed freely or maybe they were pressured. It is also easy to give money for a
signature. Because there is no openness.
The company only used 40 acres of the grabbed land for their mine. Now, we want to get fair
compensation for the 40 acres the company uses. We want compensation according to the law and the
current market price of the land. We also want the land that is not used by the company back to use for
our farming again.
We have been protesting against our situation from 2012 – 2013.
We tried to start the registration process of our land, but the local land registration department tells us
we can’t apply for registration, because it is company land. But the land registration department came
to measure the land anyway. They were not allowed by the company to measure the land.
We have written a lot of letters already, to every committee concerned with the land grabbing problem,
even up to the highest level. In these letters, we used the knowledge we have gained about the laws
and our rights. We got some answers to our letters, but mostly we were ignored. Sometimes some
people came to investigate. We never got any reports or results from these investigations.
At first, we approached the Township GAD and told them we want our land back and we want
compensation for the land used by the mining company. On July 25, 2014, the GAD told us that they
could not take responsibility for this, but they said they would bring it to the concerned ministry. They
never said what ministry.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 37
On October 10, 2014 we send a letter to the chairman of the Land Investigation Commission in
Taunggyi, on the advice of the State GAD. He also advised us to send a letter to the State Secretary. In
the letter we tell that 100,398 acres is taken from 49 farmers by MEC.
We also share what we have learned about FPIC (Free, Prior, Informed Consent) and that we never had
any time to think about the project. We say that based on the UN Declaration of Rights of Indigenous
Peoples: farms, cultivation land, any other land and natural resources belong to the indigenous people
who live on it, whether they have registered it or not.
We said we wanted to be compensated for grievance, land and crops. We attached files to the letter
about the tax receipts; the statements/recommendation letters collected for the farmers who don’t
have the tax-receipts, we added pictures of our land, and a list of 49 farmers, with names, ID’s,
addresses, land numbers, owner number given by the Land Registration Department for those who
registered their land and the amount of acres. (18 farmers have no tax receipts. None of us has Form
number 7 yet)
In reaction to our letter, On November 28, 2014, the Shan State Land Management Committee wrote a
letter to the chair of District Land Management Committee to say an investigation needs to be done.
The investigation should be finished on 10 December 2014, and at that day the report of the
investigation should be sent to the Shan State Land Management Committee.
But when the deadline came, nothing had happened. Only on December 28, the Village Tract Land
Management Committee came to investigate. They collected all information of 49 farmers. They did not
measure the land, they just asked questions like: how many acres do you have. We answered these
questions as best as we could.
On January 11 and February 16, 2015, the Township Land Management Committee came to investigate.
They did not measure the land. When we asked them why they did not measure it, they answered: we
can’t measure your land because it is not our responsibility. Your land is grabbed because we had to
follow the orders from the Commander at the time of grabbing. The staff of the Land Registration
Department also told us that they couldn’t measure the land because they did not have approval of MEC
to do so.
Because the land is not measured, we don’t know exactly which land is used by the company and which
isn’t. This means we have difficulty when we try to register our land.
Till now, we have not heard the outcome of the investigation.
We wrote another letter, to the Township Land Management Committee, about the compensation.
In this letter we ask compensation based on the 2012 Land Law procedure art. 67.
We have calculated the compensation based on the market price, and related to the type of land. The
price for paddy land is higher than the price for other crop land. We attached the list of farmer names
and all the other information. We heard that someone in our area has sold his land. He got 500.000
MMK per acre for 4 acres.
We also wrote a letter to U Min Aung Hlaing on July 20, 2015. In this letter we explain our situation, and
inform him about the land investigations. We tell him that at the time of the grabbing we did not get
any official notice, so we couldn’t object. We explained that the land is not taken in line with the 1894
Land Grabbing Law. Compensation for our grievance has not been paid according to the law. We also
explained that according to the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law article 22d, which says
38
that empty land, virgin land and unused land automatically belongs to the state when the project is not
finished within 4 years. And we explained that according to the speech of Vice President U Nyang Htun
held on March 7, 2014, farmers that don’t have tax receipts can use recommendations from community
elders to prove that they are using the land and apply for registration on the basis of these
recommendations to legally own the land.
After we explained all that, we asked to be given compensation in accordance with the laws and that
the land that is not used is given back to us. We send the same attachments as before to prove our case
with the letter.
On this letter, we only got a reaction from a MP on Union level. This MP took some action. On July 20,
2015 U Ye Tun, MP at the Union level came to our village and asked many questions, like what have you
done, what do you want, what kind of evidence do you have and he took photos from the land. We
answered all his questions. On 21 July, 2015, U Ye Tun went to the Township Land Management
Committee to discuss our case. The Land Management Committee told him that the compensation that
we asked was too high. That was the reason why they had not send the case to the higher level. They
said: if we send this kind of request to the higher level, it seems we support the farmers.
U Ye Tun informed us about this in a phone call.
After U Ye Tun told us we asked too much compensation, we wrote a letter to him on July 23, 2015.
In this letter we explain how we calculated the compensation and the said he could do an investigation
with a company that also bought land in our area. We state that all compensation should be paid
equally, and that also the farmers who were forced to accept the 50.000 MMK per acre should be
included in the fair compensation. We refer to the Land Law procedure, chapter 8, art, 67 a 1 and art. 67
b 1. We also demand again, that our land that is not used be returned to us.
After this letter, U Ye Tun sent a letter on July 25, 2015, to the Director General of the Pyithu Hluttaw in
Nay Pyi Taw .
In this letter U Ye Tun asks that MEC should pay compensation for the grabbed land. He mentions how
many farmers and how many acres, location and everything else needed. He informs the managing
director that a few farmers had already received some compensation, but that compensation was not
according to the market price. He explains the market price by referring to Ngwe Yee Pale company that
has just bought land in the same area and paid 3.000.000 MMK for farm/cultivation land and 15.000.000
MMK for paddy land per acre. That is the current market price and the compensation from MEC should
be based on it. He pleads that MEC starts negotiating with the farmers about the compensation.
On July 27, 2015 we were all called by a military officer and were asked to show the evidence for our
land claim again. We gave them 10 pairs of copies of everything. They said: we already paid
compensation to 11 farmers. Then they left.
In August, two captains from Infantry battalion 504 came to our village and asked us to show the
evidence of the land. We showed them a few tax receipts. We had already supplied all our evidence
many times.
On September 21, 2015 we were informed by the officials from MEC when they came to our village for a
meeting. They said: the amount of the compensation you ask is too high. You have to reduce it.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 39
We thought about the compensation issue. We ask for compensation according to the rules and the
current market price, but we are also afraid that if we don’t negotiate with the company, we will not get
anything. With the elections coming up in November 2015, we don’t know what is going to happen.
Maybe the result will not be good for the government and then the military will take over again. If that
happens, we go back to the situation as before, and we will lose our rights again and get nothing.
So on September 22, 2015, we sent a letter to the MEC company in which made a lower offer for the
compensation the company. We also asked that they return the unused land to us.
Now we are waiting for the company to respond. We really want this case to finish before the elections.
We are asking only to be compensated for the 40 acres the company uses. The unused land we want
back. We have started using this land again for some time now. Of the 30 acres of paddy fields that we
had, the company uses 14 acres. We are using the other 16 acres. This never really caused a problem so
far. Only under the former government, the military took our paddy fields to use for 2 years, but we
could use them again after that.
Our other fields, we started using again in 2014-2015. We only started using the land again at that time,
because before we were forbidden to use it. Now, we use it and we don’t face any difficulty.
We have now gained knowledge of our rights, we have learned about the law and listened to the
speeches of our president and government. So now we know we have the right to use our land because
the company is not using it. We know we have the right to register this land. We can prove this land was
grabbed from us. We think the company also knows that the land is our land, because we are now
negotiating for compensation. Why would the company pay compensation if they wouldn’t know this is
our land and they grabbed it from us?
But we have problems registering our land. We think maybe it is difficult for us to register our land,
because the company is a military company. The civil servants are under the control of the Ministry of
Home Affairs, and this ministry is under the control of the commander in chief of the army. Therefore,
we think, the civil servants have to obey the orders from the upper level. Maybe the GAD and the civil
servants want to help us, but they have to follow orders. Maybe they got orders not to allow us to
register the land. We don’t know this, we have no proof, but we can understand that maybe they are
afraid of the military. So even if they want to work according to the rules and regulations, they have to
obey orders. Maybe there is no action on our case, because they did not get orders.
We think that the civil servants should work according to the law. They should be independent from the
military, and not have to follow orders. They should work to support the people. They should work
according to the needs of the people.
We have written our letter to U Min Aung Hliang, because we remembered that in 2005, when some of
us were given some compensation for our land, military personnel was involved.
We believe that the civil servants and the military should not be mixed, not like it is now. Separated
duties would be better. The army’s job is to defend the country. The GAD’s job is to work for the people.
We know what we ask is according to the law. We have a right to be answered. We have the right to
want our problem to be solved.
40
9. Ywar Nyang Township, Kyaut Pone Village Tract, Tha Min Poung Village
A Lead mining and processing operation by Shwe Lah Taung company, a joint venture with the
government. The company wants to expand its area of operation from 49,5 acres to 250 acres. The
mining area affects five villages.
Five of our villages, Ka Zed, which has 1772 people, Kah Pyin, which has 466 people, Hout Twin (1023
people), Kyaut Pon (890 people) and Tha Min Poung (709 people) are in the area of the lead mine and
the grinding installation. The mine occupies 49,5 acres. Now they want to expand to another 250 acres.
Close to the mine are our tea plantations and orange gardens.
Two of our villages Kyaut Pon and Tha Min Poung get their drinking water through a pipe from the water
supply also used by the company. The other three villages have a separate drinking water source.
Since already a long time there has been small scale mining in our area, but only extraction. Now, since
one year, the company expanded the extraction with a grinder installation and also grinds the stones to
get the lead out. This creates a lot of dust.
The mining area is on a hill. The wastewater basin is located on the slope and therefore terraced. When
the stones are grinded, the dust is mixed with water. This needs a lot of water. They leave the mixture in
two small concrete tanks for 6 days. The small parts of lead are more heavy than water and they sink to
the bottom. Then they drain the water away and can collect the lead dust to be processed.
The used water is guided through some ponds in 4 stages to prevent soil erosion of the mountain slope,
because the mountain slope is very steep. After the four stages the water flows into a big pond and is
left there to seep back into the earth. We think this system is very systematic, but we are also worried
because we don’t know if this method is safe and we also don’t know if there is still lead in the water
that will mix with our water supply and will go to our fields.
Now, the Shwe Lan Taung Company, wants to extend operations to another 250 acres making the area
where there is mining 300 acres. The company has a license for 49,5 acres (dated on June 21, 2011), but
the license doesn’t cover the 250 acres the mine wants to extent its operation.
The company is a joint venture company with the Myanmar government.
We believe that as our own government is involved in a company, that company should operate
according to the law. If we had rule of law and equality, and a government we could depend upon to
make and implement laws that protect our lives and our environment, we could feel more safe about
our future.
We are worried that our land will be grabbed for the mine expansion and that we will suffer from
environmental and water pollution. We don’t want big mining in our village. We have learned from
cases in other villages, we don’t want our village to suffer the same troubles.
The company has gathered the 10 signatures that are required by law to get our consent.
On June 15, 2011, the Village Tract GAD wrote a letter of no objection to the Township GAD. This letter
had the required 10 signatures attached. On June 20, 2011, the Township GAD wrote a letter of no
objection to test for the lead with 20 labor.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 41
The way they collected the signatures was very unclear. Most of us didn’t know about it and we were
not informed and not consulted.
We think this is a very unfair way to get our approval of the project: it is easy to put pressure on 10
separate villagers, and besides, it is not representative of the whole community when 10 individuals are
approached to give permission, while the other villagers know nothing. The village GAD also signed for
consent.
We think that in our case, money was offered for the signatures. We think this is not in line with the
government policy to eradicate corruption.
We also think it is very unfair that the company only got the signatures for the license to operate on
49,5 acres and now they use these signatures to extent 250 acres more. We are angry about that,
because we don’t want this project and because of this 10 signatures, they can pretend that we gave
consent. This is not right.
We want to know what is going on, what is going to happen to us and to our village. But we can’t get the
information we need. We are not informed properly. We are worried about the mining, we are worried
for our environment and for our health.
We are also worried for our safety, because the company is using dynamite when they extract the lead.
We know that a company needs special permission to use, transport and store dynamite, as dynamite is
dangerous and it is also sensitive in our country because we still have the civil war. We still have no
peace.
The managers of the mine, U Khin Aung and U Mya Mg told us on June 20, 2015, that they have
permission from the Ministry of Mining to transport the dynamite. The license is issued on May 23,
2015. There are a lot of rules reguarding the transportation and storage of dynamite.
The Deputy Director of Department of Mining Number 1 has sent the license to managing director of
the Shwe Lah Taung company. They have to follow the rules. The Dynamite and Bullet Battalion Number
2 based in Pentaung directly approved the transport to the company. Two persons from the company
and two persons from Mining Department Number 1 have to go with the transport.
The manager of the company told us on May 23, 2015, that the dynamite is transported by a private
transportation business. The dynamite is brought from Kyaung Padaung in the Dry Zone. They have
permission and are acting according to the law. The permit says they can transport 37680 kg (37.68
metric ton) in one transport. But the law doesn’t allow to store the dynamite in the company area. They
have to store it in the nearest police station, and can only keep the dynamite they use in one day in the
mining compound.
We have asked at our police station if they store the company’s dynamite, but the police officer said
that he doesn’t know about that. We are afraid to have this much dynamite in our village. We know the
police station where the manager of the mine tells us they store the dynamite. It is not safe. But we are
not sure where the dynamite is stored. We want clear information on this matter. We want to be able to
be sure that we are protected and the dynamite is stored safely.
We are also worried because of things happening in our village that never used to happen before the
mine. One man who lived at the bottom of the mountain where the mine is, died. His body was very
swollen before he died. He drank the water from the stream close to his house. We can’t be sure the
man died because of the pollution from the mine. There is no independent body to investigate the
42
cause of his death, but we think that maybe he died because of the mine. This makes us worry for our
health. We think that after such an event, the water should be tested for pollution. These test results
should be available for us. If we have knowledge, we can use prevention or we can demand the
company to find a remedy if needed.
Because the project has only started in January 2015 we can’t yet see the effects of the mining clearly,
apart from this one man dying and swelling up. But we worry because we have learned that lead can be
very dangerous for our health and for our environment. We think there should be a good investigation
of the effects of lead and the method of the mining company. Our water should be tested. According to
the mining law the company has to put fish in the waste water ponds and check daily what happens to
the fish. Also plants need to be planted in the area and the plants should be watched closely. There are
no rules to make the company check the water and have it tested in a laboratory.
We are also worried for our pagoda. Now on the mountain where the pagoda is, there is only an old
unused pit. But the company wants to expand to the foot of the mountain. If they dig there, it could
affect our pagoda or our access to our pagoda.
On the bottom of this mountain, the company has bought 6 acres of land from 5 of our farmers in May
2015. There are an orange plantations and tea gardens. These 5 farmers now regret that they sold the
land; they have done it under pressure. The company already started using the land before they bought
it. On the land of one farmer they build a tank and they used his land to dump the mining waste.
The farmers had tried to keep their land, but they were not listened to. In the meantime, their land was
surrounded by company owned land, restricting their access, they got desperate and believed they had
no choice but to sell.
They did not receive a fair price. The current price for land that has no plantation is minimum 30 lakhs
MMK per acre. The farmers only received between 330.000 to 550.000 MMK per acre.
Our community has suffered from division because of the company. People were angry to those who
signed the consent, and also to those who sold their land. After many disputes and meeting together
the community is now united again. Everybody wants to stop the expansion of the mining project.
We organized a meeting with the company and the police on July 26, 2015. We want the company not
to use the land on the side of the road where the pagoda is and our forest plantation. When the
company started to cut our trees we wanted them to stop doing that. So we had the meeting.
We asked them not to extend to the other side of the road, but they replied to us they had no decision
making power on this, but they would bring it to the higher level. We have never heard what happened
at the higher level, but so far, the company stays at one side of the road.
We did have other meetings with the company, and they have answered many of our questions. But we
still decided we don’t want the mine. On July 26, 2015, we objected to 250 acres being used by the
mine.
If we would have been informed of the plans free and fair, we could have avoided people in the village
getting persuaded to sell their land, and we could have reached a common decision on the future of our
village. Now, we have to worry because we don’t know what is going to happen, we have no formal
influence. We wrote a letter to the Ministry of Mining with a copy to the State and Township authorities
on July 26, 2015, and said that we don’t want the mine because of the effects on our environment and
our health. We have learned from the experiences of other communities. We don’t want to suffer the
same effects.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 43
We want our voice to be heard, but we don’t know how to persuade the government to listen to us. We
think we need to do protests, we have no normal channel for communication with the company or the
government.
We want to be taken seriously by our government, and we want the companies that come to extract our
natural resources to listen to our needs and protect our life and our environment.
Entrance to the mine
44
Grinders at the mine
Sink tanks and waste
water management
system
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 45
10. Pinlaung Township, Tyggit Village Tract
Coal mine and coal fed power plant operated by several companies, affecting 7 villages. Two villages and
440 people were relocated.
The mine was started in 2000 by the Shwe The Lwin company on 544 acres and operated from 20002002 by the Shwe Than Win Company, owned by U Kyow Win. In 2002, the operation was taken over by
the Shan Yo Ma Dragon Company, a joint venture formed by the Eastern Region Commander, the PNO,
Kamboza and the Eden Natural Power and Resources Development Company Ltd.
On September 19, 2014, there was a meeting with the Ministry of Mining, the GAD, the Land Use
Department, geologists, Village Leaders and Elders were the company announced that the 544 acres
were not enough and that they wanted to extend with 311 acres.
After this, the joint venture fell apart, and now the mine is run by the Eden Natural Power and
Resources Development Company Ltd. The owner of this company is a Myanmar citizen with good
relations with businesses connected to the military government and cronies.
The company have a license for big scale mining, but the license is for 544 acres only. But the total area
occupied by the mine is 824 areas.
When the company started, our land was grabbed. This was under the former government, so we did
not dare to protest. In October 2004, we were told that two villages to be relocated for the coal project,
because they were expanding the project. Our village was one of the two villages. Nobody asked our
opinion on this. It just happened and we had to adjust.
On September 19, 2004 there was a meeting between the Shan Yaw Ma Dragon Company, the Tyggit
Township SPDC and the Pin Long Township SPDC. In this meeting the conditions of the relocation of
village Lae Kyarr were explained.
The outcome of this meeting was that the Shan Yow Ma Dragon Company would give money for our
houses in Lae Kyarr village and Taung Bo La village.
It was a detailed agreement, given specific amount for compensation for every type of house. But we
were not asked if we agreed or not. It was announced to us.
We got a plot of land of 80 x 60 feet to build a new house. There are 47 compounds for 42 households.
The compensation for building a new house was not enough, so we had to use the materials from our
old house and transport it to the new location and use it to build the new house.
The company also promised that they would connect the water pipe from the monastery to Lae Kyarr
village and build at least 7 water tanks. The company constructed the water pipe, but they did not build
the water tanks. Our old village did not have electricity, but in our new village we would get electricity,
and the company would give the wiring and the bulbs for street lights. We had to supply the posts.
We also had to contribute and work together with the company to prepare the land and make the
roads. The company would also donate fly proof toilets and pipes. We had water tanks that were given
to the village by the UNDP. These water tanks would be moved to our relocation area, but this never
happened.
The company promised also to build a building for fifty students in the highschool in Tyggit, or to donate
as much as they could for exercise books and pencils to students. This building was never made.
We got only one month to move our village to the new site. We had to move between 1 and 30 October
2014.
46
We used to depend on farming, but now, those of us who lost all their land have to work as daily labor
in construction or other irregular jobs. The company does not provide many jobs for the community.
Not many people are educated, so we can’t get the higher jobs. Some of us work as drivers for the
company, some do odd jobs. Because of this situation, some of us need to go and find work outside.
This affects our community, as families are broken. We used to be a farmer community, but now we
can’t depend on farming anymore, because we lose our land to the mining.
We got some compensation for our land, but only after it was grabbed. Not before. There was no space
to negotiate. We had to accept the offer of the local SPDC. We had no choice. They said if we did not
want the money, fine, we would still have no land. We lost our farmland. Our last crop was destroyed,
and we did not get any compensation for that.
The village area that we were relocated to, Mye Nyi Kohn Village, also suffered: some of their land was
grabbed to make space for our houses. 8 farmers were the most affected, they lost 11 acres, but other
farmers there also lost part of their land. When they leveled the land, they also destroyed the crops of
our new neighbors. They received 20.000 MMK per acre, which was not enough. They received
substitute land, but that had to be grabbed as well, and the owners of that land have never received any
compensation. They did not get compensation for the crops.
Factory. 28 Feet from house
Though there was some conflict between us and the company about the destruction of the crops, we
did not protest. It was the time of the dictatorship, we had no choice: we had to adjust to the new
situation together with our new neighbors. Now, the two villages have become one (Zi Khon village and
Mye Nyi Kohn village). We now call it Mya Kan Thar village.
We were not consulted on our needs and wishes. This all just happened to us. We had no influence.
Due to our situation, we have become poorer. Not all kids can attend school, because the family can’t
afford to pay for education. Some kids who should be still in school have to go out and find work to
support the family.
Two of the villages in the area are very close to the coal fed power plant. In these villages the people
suffer a lot from the smoke from the factory. A small mining pit is also very close to these villages. They
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 47
suffer from the coal dust. Two other villages are close to the big mining pit. They are also affected by the
mining and the power plant. The distance from some of the houses to the mining it is around 220 feet.
The mining law gives instructions on the minimum distance between a mine and a village. This distance
should be minimum 660 feet. The company in our village is violating the law.
The power plant is also very noisy. And they use dynamite for the mining. Sometimes, after an
explosion, there are fragments of rock flying around when we are working in the field. This is very
unsafe. When they use the dynamite, the earth shakes. This causes cracks in our buildings. Our pagoda
has been damaged by the explosions. The pagoda also is damaged by the instability of the slopes
because of the mining.
Our air is polluted by the mining and the factory. Our health is affected by this. Some children are born
underweight, and there are more miscarriages. This also happens with our animals. Because we had two
cases of children who suffered strange defects, we are getting very worried.
One child was born healthy, but now it is suffering. It started with severe pain in his leg and difficulty
breathing. He also can’t speak because he can’t use his tongue anymore. It has to be in bed all the time
now. We went to the hospital, but they could not find a cause for his situation.
Another child was born with one side of the body not working. Both these families are living very close
to the mine.
We can’t know for sure if these problems are related to the coal mining and the power factory. But we
have learned that coal fed power plants are very polluting, and this pollution can cause serious health
problems. This makes us even more worried.
The waste from the mine is stored on the company’s territory. But we don’t know if this is safe. If the
waste is not treated properly, poisonous gasses can come into the air we breathe, and poison can seep
in our drinking water and affect our health and our crops.
In September 2014, we decided to take action. We want the mine and the power plant to be stopped.
This kind of development that makes people suffer is not good. We have no benefit from this
development, we only get trouble and our safety and life security is destroyed.
In September 2014, we wrote a letter to our Shan State MP, U Sain Kyaw Saing Thein who is in the
Upper House of the Union Parliament.
In the letter we listed our worries and concerns. We wrote that the mine has been extracting coal since
2000 and that our communities suffer from environmental destruction and our forest has been
destroyed. We lose our natural resources, our water is polluted and our health is affected. When the
company grabbed our land, our crops were destroyed and now our crops are suffering from funghal
diseases and bacteria. Our children are born with severe underweight, their brain development is
affected; they are born too early. Also the number of miscarriage has increased. This happens not only
with people, but also with our animals. We wrote that the education of our students is disturbed
because the road that the students and villagers have to use is used by the company as well and that the
company uses 10 wheel trucks on our road. We also mentioned about our pagoda, the use of dynamite,
the waste material that is very close to our houses. Because of the undisciplined burning of coal, people
suffer from air pollution.
The side effects of the coal impacts our environment and causes climate change. Before we had many
trees and bamboo and our harvest was good. Now, we don’t have the trees any longer and our harvest
becomes less and less. We ended by saying that we and this mining to stop.
With the letter, we attached the signatures of the 7 villages in the Tiggyit affected area.
48
We worry about our water sources. The water in the stream is grey. Because the coalmine has become
deeper over the years, it has reached the underground water source of our village. There is also water in
the mine. This water is pumped out and poured into the stream. The stream also carries water from
behind the waste dump site of the mine and the ash from the burning. This stream flows into Inle Lake.
We also use this water for agriculture and we are afraid it damages our crops and our food. In Nyint
Twin village, we have to use this water for drinking.
One of our roads is very damaged. This is the road children use when they go to school. Now they have a
problem reaching the school.
Another road, going through the village, is used by the heavy ten wheel trucks of the company. The
company uses around 2000 tons of coal per day in the power plant. But they excavate more. They
transport the coal from the mine that they don’t use for the power plant over our road in the heavy
trucks. This is dangerous, and also damages our road. Our hospital is next to this road.
The company sells the ash from the power plant in Paya Mae Village in Payar Phyu Village Tract to other
areas in Myanmar where it can be used for fertilizer. The ashes are also used for producing cement. We
have learned that this ash is poisonous and we worry for the people who are using it.
We waited a long time for an answer to our letter, but we did not get it. Therefore, we decided to send
the letter again in August 2014. This time we send it to the district GAD in Taunggyi.
Again we didn’t get an answer, but in March 2015 two people from Pinlaung Township came to visit our
village. One was Dr Daw Khin Thein Htway, the headmistress of the Pinlaung district hospital; and the
other one was U Zaw Thaik, a Deputy Director from the Shan State government in Taunggyi.
They came in reaction to our letter. But they didn’t explain anything to us. They just came to tell us that
everything was fine with the health situation in Pinlaung Township. Dr Daw Khin Thein Htway said we
were telling lies about the condition of some people and children. She said there were no miscarriages.
She said the situation was very good and normal. We asked her to back up his statements with
evidence and share the medical information for Tyggit with us. But she got angry and refused. We don’t
understand why she can’t give us this information. If she is right and she can prove to us she is right,
than we would not have to worry so much. Now, we are just expected to trust him, but how can we do
that with all the bad things happening in our villages?
U Zaw Htike from the Shan State government negotiated with the company and the villagers. We
wanted the company to stop using the road of the villages, so that our children can go to school safely.
They promised not to use the road. They stopped using the road for one month, but after that, they
again continued to use the road. We have no record of the promises of the company, but many people
witnessed in the meeting.
This was the only reaction we got to our letter and to our worries.
We want our government to control the companies extracting our resources. We want the companies
accountable for their production process.
We wonder what kind of development this is? We do not benefit at all. Everything we got from this
development is bad: we lost our land and our community. The compensation we got for our houses did
not cover the costs of building a similar new house. Our community is broken because of lack of jobs.
The village area were we were resettled lost some of their land, including their cemetery land. Our
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 49
forest and environment is destroyed, our air and water is polluted. Our children get sick, our animals
suffer, our crop yield is less. Our roads are broken and our pagoda is damaged. The only thing we got in
return is supply of electricity, for which we have to pay partly ourselves.
We have no choice but to take action for stopping the mine and the factory. They destroy our lives, and
we have no way to influence the decision making.
We need the government to give honest answers to our questions and supply us with needed
information. We need a government that listens to us, take us seriously and protect our land, our life
and our future.
Overview of mining
area
50
11. Muse Township, Swan Saw Quarter
Land grabbing for a housing development on 147,75 acres near the Chinese border, affecting 97 people.
In 2013, we were invited for the first time to a meeting with the First Dragon Company and the Mao
Htein Company. They want to make a housing development on our land.
They offered to compensate us for the loss of our land by paying 300 lakh MMK per acre. We know that
according to the Land Law of 2012, they have to give compensation according to the market price. We
have heard that people in our area have sold their land for much higher prices. They did not offer
compensation for our crops or grievance.
But we are not interested in the compensation, because we want to keep our land.
The company again invited us to a meeting in 2013. They now offered us 500 lakh MMK per acre, but we
said again: no, we are farmers, we don’t want your money, we want to keep our land.
We have tax receipts to prove that we have worked our land, 97 people altogether. But when we apply
to register our land we could not do it.
In 2014, again, the company invited us and now offered 500 lakh MMK per acre or a 60 x 40 feet plot of
land in their housing development per acre. This land was not farmland, it was meant for building a
house. Again we said no. The company tried one more time, in 2015, now offering 800 lakh MMK per
acre or two plots of land in their development per acre. In the folder that the company has printed to
promote the project, they offered 500 lakh per paddy field acre. If you don’t take the money, you can
become a stakeholder. You can also take a 2000 square feet apartment per acre of paddy land, or two
plots of land of 40 x 60 feet per acre of paddy land.
They kept trying to persuade us to give up our land, but we kept refusing. We know that for this kind of
project, the consent from the community needs to be given.
We are a farming community. We know how to work on our farm. If we have no land, when the money
is finished, what can we do?
We have learned our lesson from the past. If a farmer loses his land, he loses his life. There have been
other projects in our area. In 1996, the New Star Light Company organized a housing project. At that
time they grabbed our land without offering much compensation. In 2006, they did the same thing
again, with other land. They promised that the community would benefit, that we could get jobs in
construction, that we would have a market for our products, that we could have a new house. They said
it would be a housing project for the community. But they lied. We never got any proper jobs, only daily
labor, and they build luxury housing for Chinese people. This housing is protected by an armed militia.
We have seen what happens to families when they get compensation. They don’t know how to invest
the money. When it is finished, they have nothing. People start using drugs and get into desperate
situations.
Then we did not know about laws and we did not know about our rights. Now we trust on the law. But
we can’t trust on the rightful implementation of the law. We have always paid tax for our land, every
year. But now, we don’t get the tax receipts for 2015. We asked the Land Use Department, but they said
we could not get the receipt. This makes us worried. We need those receipts to be able to apply for land
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 51
registration. Normally the tax receipts are issued in July, but this year we haven’t received them. We are
afraid that the Land Use Department doesn’t give us the receipts so we can’t prove that the land
belongs to us. We have not registered our land with Form number 7, because we did not know we could
do this. We only recently learned about that.
It is difficult to trust the government if there is no clear implementation of the law.
We know that the company really wants our land. If we can’t trust on the implementation of the law,
we don’t know what will happen. They can take our land, even if it is against the law. We have no
protection.
We organized a committee to share awareness of the law and our rights in our community. Our whole
community agreed that they wanted to keep their land. All 97 farmers affected signed a statement that
we want to keep our land and don’t want the housing development. This we shared with the company
on September 9, 2015.
Since then, we didn’t hear from the company again, but they did phone the village GAD to ask what the
community was feeling. The GAD answered that all the villagers are against their project. We have
elected our village GAD. He works together with us.
We think that our problems are caused because the law is not properly and independently
implemented. Money and power can influence the implementation of the law. Normal people have no
equal chance against the people with power and money. We think this should change. It is very difficult
for us local people to get the information we need. If we don’t know how to apply for land registration,
we are more affected and easily cheated.
The government should give us this kind of information, in a way we can understand. They should also
assist us in registration of our land according to the rules. They should act on evidence only.
Sometimes it also happens that we have to pay extra money for services, like getting application Form
number 1 to start the land registration process or an NRC card. The official price is low, but the GAD
officers can ask us any price they want. This kind of thing is not monitored, we can go nowhere to make
a complaint. We need an independent committee where we can put our complaints.
Government offices are mostly far away from the villages. It is difficult for us to go there, we have to
spend money and time.
We need MP’s that can represent us. We need a government that listens to the needs of the people.
The way our government is organized now, it will be very hard to change. We think the system of
government should be changed. The local government bodies should have more power. Now the GAD
has to follow the orders form the Ministry of Home Affairs. This ministry is under the commander in
chief of the army. They are used to follow orders. But we want them to follow the law.
The chairman of the township GAD is appointed, He is not from Muse. We think our local
representatives should be connected with the community. We want to elect the township
administration.
We want a local government connected with the community. Then we can together decide on what
development is beneficial for us. We are not against development, but this housing project will bring no
benefit to the community. If we could get jobs and opportunities, we would support this development,
but never on our land. The government had its own land, why don’t they use that? This project is for
52
rich people only, not for us. They have grabbed land in our area and used it to construct a golf course.
They even wanted to extend the golf course, but this plan is stopped temporarily because there was a
lot of protest against it.
Why should the government facilitate projects for businesses and rich people? We think that they are
only interested in making money. They should be taking care of the people.
Brochures of
construction
companies
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 53
12. Muse Township, Muse Homon Quarter
Land grabbing of 20 acres by the government for the development of an airport, affecting 21 farmers.
We have been living on this land for generations. We have inherited this land from our fathers and
grandfathers. We cultivate fruit gardens and fields. The land is part of the history of our community, it is
the base on which we have built our lives.
One of the members of our community is an architect. He built a pagoda for the community in 1999. He
did not want to accept money for this project, but was given a piece of land. From 1999, he has been
using this land.
In 2003 and 2004, a Chinese company came to our area and asked us to plant sugarcane for this
company sugar mill. The company provides the seeds and the technology. We sold our sugarcane to the
company. They paid us a fair price. We were content with this arrangement. It brought stability to our
community. The company did not take our land.
In 2005, a model plot for sugarcane plantation was created in our area. There was an official opening
ceremony for the plot, attended by U Thein Sein, who was the Prime Minister under the SPDC, the
military government. Many other generals and high placed officials came to visit the model plot.
Next to the model sugarcane plot was a colony of people suffering from leprosy. It was outside the
town. They have been there for a long time. The district chairman at the time was a friend of the
architect. He said: now that we have the model plot and so many high people coming, we need to move
the leprosy colony. It is not a good image for our country if they have to see this when they visit the
model plantation. It is shameful for our community. He asked his friend the architect to temporarily give
shelter to the lepers on the 5 acres of land that was given in return for building the pagoda. He
promised that the government would make a new place for them.
The architect said yes. The district chairman was transferred not long after that. The government didn’t
do anything for the lepers. They are still living on the architect’s land. They now have a small village,
with houses and a church. The children of the colony go to school now. All this is done with private
money. The government never supplied anything.
In 2010, the problems for our community started when the Shwe Naga Company wanted our land to
develop a housing project. This case was brought to parliament by SNDP MP U Sai Poe. After this, the
parliament blocked the project.
But this was only the beginning of the projects planned by the government and companies in our area.
In 2011 the government started constructing the Muse Central Economic Development Zone project
with the New Star Light Company. It has hotels, car showrooms, a jade market. The zone uses an area of
288 acres. These acres were all farming land before: sugarcane, fruit gardens, paddy fields and rubber
plantations. The people living on this land were offered compensation, but they refused. We don’t know
what kind of things they have done to protect their land, we only know that the government and the
company already finished one sector. They still have to build the other planned 5 sectors.
54
We think that the government and the companies are interested in our area because it is close to the
Chinese border. They think they will have many business opportunities and want to develop the area.
But we want to keep our lifestyle as farmers. We need a different kind of development.
In 2012, they New Star Light Company started to construct a road through our lands. They used
bulldozers and destroyed our fields. We were not offered compensation. We were not consulted.
We didn’t want to wait and see what would happen, so we organized in our community and made a
committee of 5 persons to represent the community. These 5 persons all have an education, and have
awareness of the laws and our rights. The 5 committee members can represent the community. We
wrote a letter to complain about our case and share our needs.
The district GAD is smart, they thought that the farmers could not have written the letter as most of us
don’t have much education. So when the Committee of 5 was not in the area, they called one farmer to
the office and made him say who wrote the letter. They said: we know you did not do it, because you
have education only up till grade 3. After this, the District GAD started to put pressure on the members
of the committee of 5. They said: if you do this again, we will have you arrested. These things happen to
us, but it is difficult to get evidence for this, because mostly this happens in private conversations with
the GAD. But we want to share it, because it is what really happens to us.
In 2013, the Tho Mao company came to our area because they wanted to do a housing development
project. On 22 September 2013 the Township GAD department sent a letter to Quarter GAD of the
Homon quarter in Muse. They wrote that they wanted to invite all farmers to inform them and to talk
about compensation. Farmers that have land in the project area were requested to bring the evidence
for their land titles. Some have a land title, but not all of us have.
During the meeting the company said they will offer us not less than New Star Light has offered. But we
refused the compensation. The District GAD officer asked: how are you going to proceed without the
approval of the community? It is clear the community does not want this project.
After the meeting, we send a letter of objection on September 30, 2013, to the Chief Minister of Shan
State. After we send this letter we did not hear from the company again. We think that the project has
been stopped. But we never got any announcement of this.
We decided to go and apply to register our land with Form number 7. (September 13, 2013). But when
we tried, we were told we could not apply for registration because our land was not farmland. We were
told to get a Lana 36, which means a registration for our house. But when we applied for that at Muse
Township Homon Quarter, we were told that we were not allowed to register our house because the
land was an industrial development area.
We have an electricity connecting in our houses, how can we have that if we are not recognized?
There is an official map to show the land use in our area, but we were not allowed to see it. We asked to
see it, but were refused. They only showed us a part of the map. We think this kind of mapping should
be public, everybody should be able to see and check the map. If we are not allowed to see the
complete map, it can easily be changed to show that our land is no longer our land.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 55
But these problems were just the beginning. Now we are facing another big threat. It started on January
4, 2015 when the City Municipal Committee in Muse send a letter to every farmer that they had to leave
their house within 20 days. The deadline in the letter is January 20.
The reason they gave for why we all had to leave, was that we had no permission for our house. They
said that if we didn’t follow the order, they would accuse us under the municipal law. We had never
heard of this law.
We never got any information on the airport plans. When we went to the Township Municipal Office to
inquire, they told us they had orders from the GAD to send the letter. But the Municipal Development
Committee said they would withdraw the letter. They told us nothing would happen to us or our houses.
This was only told to us, we did not get any letter that said they withdrew the eviction letter. We didn’t
understand what happened, why they acted like this, and we were worried.
But then every farmer got another letter, on January 8, 2015. This time form the Chair of the Township
Management Committee. This is a GAD officer.
In this letter we again were ordered to move our house and our fences and everything within 30 days. If
we would not obey, they would bring us to court. The articles they used is art. 35 and 36 of the 2012
Land Law, for those who have no land owner certificate like Form number 7 or other proof of ownership
like tax receipts. And Chapter 4 Article 12 F, which says we are not allowed to build a house on
farmland.
Some people got the letter two weeks before the deadline, but others only one day before the deadline.
When our committee of 5 met with the Chairman of the Township Management Committee to ask
clarification, he said he was ordered to write the letter from the higher level.
We were not offered any compensation. They also send the eviction letter to the Leprosy colony. They
also were ordered to move.
When we got this second letter, we went to the Township GAD officer. He said: I read in the newspaper
that your land will be auctioned. I took action in advance and sent the letter to you. When the
community asked if they would receive any compensation, he said: no, the land belongs to the
government, you are only allowed to use it.
We were worried, so we organized a meeting. It was all very confusing. We were told many different
things, that our farmland, which we had farmed already for so long, was township land; or that it was a
project area; that we needed a housing permit, but we could not get a housing permit because our land
was farmland. We decided to write a letter to the Shan State government in Taunggyi, with a copy to
the Presidential Office. In this letter we explained about our land and the problem we had registering
our land. We explained that the land had been used for a temporary airport in the Second Word War,
but that we have been living and working on it already for generations. We wrote that we were only
recently informed that we were not allowed to use the land for anything but farming without
permission, and that they had come to measure our land and put red flags on it.
In our community we have 38 houses and 230 people. We explained that we all received a letter telling
us to remove our houses or we would be accused. We feel really threatened by this, it is a nightmare.
We also wrote about the leprosy colony and that these people find shelter in our area, and about the
airport they want to build at the Myanmar-Chinese border. We already have a bus station for city
development, a rubber plantation and crops. We have a transformer and a central development zone
road, built by New Starlight Company in the area. We already have all this infrastructure. We wrote: it is
56
inhuman that you ask us to move. Some of us have lived here for 18 years already. If we have to move,
we will face hardship. After that we asked the President for help. We wrote: please will you help us? We
don’t want to become a helpless community. We send this letter to President office in Nay Pyi Taw in
March 2015.
We never got any answer.
We went to Taunggyi on March 2, 2015. The secretary of Shan State government showed us a map of
our area.
Our houses were not on this map! It only showed empty jungle land. What is shown on the map is not
the real situation. Our houses have been there for a long time, just like our sugar plantations and our
paddy fields and our fruit gardens.
We went to meet with the secretary of the Shan State government to share our worries. He said he
would report to the higher level, but he offered no suggestions and he had no ideas how to help us.
He also complaint to us: he wanted to know why we had send the letter to the presidential office. He
said that the Shan State government was like our father and mother, if we had a problem, they would
solve it.
We do not feel that the Shan State government is like our father and mother. They are not taking care of
us at all. The secretary only offered to report to the higher level, and then got angry with us because we
send the letter to the president office. If the government want our trust, and if they want us to believe
they are working for our benefit, they should take action to help us. They should explain the laws and
regulations to us. They should follow these laws and regulations. If they are not open to us, if they use
the wrong maps, if they give the wrong information to the higher levels, how can we trust them?
On June 28 of 2015, the Land Registration Department came to put the markings on our land, again they
put red flags everywhere.
We gave a press conference in Homon Quarter on July 5 and made a statement. In this statement we
explained that Homon is an old airfield place, but that our families have been living and farming there
already before we were born. That the area is home to a leprosy colony and that the people living there
need to survive and replacing them is not fair. We said we believe our area is selected for an airport
because it is close to China, but that we have rubber plantations, we have installed electricity already,
our life is on this land, and we are ordered to move within 20 days without consultation or explanation.
We object to this treatment.
We have never been consulted. We were offered compensation in 2013 by the New Star Light company
who wanted to take our land. But we refused. We want to be farmers. Now they come to take it for the
airport. After our refusal, the harassment started.
We have regular meetings in our community. In these meetings we exchange information and have
discussions and consultations. The committee of 5 reports back to the community. So, it is important
that the committee members are present when something like a meeting happens. But the District GAD
and the MP from Pyithu Hluttaw in Taunggyi called a meeting in Taunggyi on March 2, 2015 for all the
28 affected farmers and their families. This happened when the committee of 5 was not in the area. We
are not sure, but we think they did this on purpose.
They used the meeting to explain about the history of our area. They explained about the American
Airstrip in the Second World War, that it was used by the America army to supply their troops in the
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 57
region. In 1957 the then Muse Town leaders called all the people together and distributed the land to
the farmers to be used for farming. In 1963, in the Ne Win period, an Indonesian plane with engine
trouble landed on the airstrip. Ne Win was very upset by this, he didn’t want foreigner planes to land on
Myanmar territory. He ordered the airstrip to be destroyed. In the meeting, they explained all this and
told the farmers that from 1963 onwards, land belonged to Airport department of the Ministry of
Transportation.
We are upset by this kind of action by the government and the GAD. They are making this kind of
presentation to the people to proof that our land belongs to them. But they are not honest when they
give information. They manipulate the people.
We have been farming our land for a long time. We have paid land tax. We have the right to say no to
this project. We have the right to be consulted. When we apply for land registration they tell us it is not
farming land but township land. When we want to register our house, then they tell us it is farmland.
They tell us it is industrial land. They tell us it is land from the ministry of transportation.
They never give us any evidence to prove what they say. They used different maps that do not match
the real situation.
They claim to be our father and our mother, but they don’t take care.
We don’t need our government to think they are our father and our mother. We need the government
and the GAD to work according to the law. They should give us information and they should allow us to
check this information.
We don’t want them to write letters that cause us distress, tell us to leave our houses and our property.
They are destroying our community. They don’t even respect the people in the leprosy colony. They
have never provided for them, which is the government’s job. The government should provide for the
people, not destroy our community and our lives. We still have our houses now, but we don’t know
what will happen to us.
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13. Nang Cho Township, Keyin Ga Naing Village Tract, Tha Pyay Wan Village
168 acres of land were grabbed from 42 farmers by the state to grow seasonal crops. The land was
returned to the farmers by the state, but local authorities refused to return it and sold it. The farmers
want their land back but face a court case for the sons of the buyer, who is and ex-general.
Our land was first grabbed in 1985/1986. They took 178 acres from 42 farmers. The state took it away
from us because they wanted to grow seasonal crops. We had to work on our own land as daily laborers
then. At that time, we received 250 MMK per day for our work.
In 1995/1996 the land was returned to us by the state, but the staff of the Township Land Registration
Department and U Win Htein, a member of the USDA who is now a member of the USDP, did not return
it to us. They told us that we had no evidence that the land belonged to us, that our claim was illegal
and that they would not give us the land. We were not allowed to use it. They offered us some
compensation, but nobody took it.
Then, someone from the Land Registration Department, a broker and someone for the USDA made
F 105 for themselves for our land, and sold the 168 acres to ex-general U Win Aung Htein. This was in
2002. 70 acres were just left without using them. On the other acres oranges and corn were planted.
In February 2013 we send a letter to the Minister of Agriculture that we wanted to start using the
unused acres, that we want our land back and we want to register it.
We waited all this time to ask for our land back, because only in 2013 we felt that now we might be
protected by the law. Before, we never dare to protest.
We wrote a letter on October 21, 2013 to the Central Land Use Management Committee. In this letter
we objected to the land registration of U Yae Win Naing, the son of general U Win Aung Htein and said
that he was selling out the land he had grabbed. The Township GAD then wrote to the Village Tract GAD
on November 20, 2013 about our complaint on the land grabbing of the company of general U Win
Aung Htein and his son U Yae Win Naing named Spider Agriculture Company, and their claim that the
land they grabbed was vacant land. The Township GAD invited the Village Tract GAD to do an
investigation. On the same day the Village Tract GAD wrote to U Yae Win Aung that they will investigate
and ask him to come to the Township GAD.
Because nothing much happened after that, we decided that we were going to use our land again. On
May 2, 2014, we wrote a letter to the Township GAD to announce that we would use the land again. We
said: our land is grabbed as empty land. But it is not empty land, it is our land. No action has been taken
to give us back our land. So we are going to use the land again om May 2, 2014, at 8 AM we are going to
use the land with 70 farmers and 5 tractors.
And we did as announced.
After this, the son of U Win Aung Htein accused us of trespassing. He doesn’t live in our community. He
didn’t accuse all the 42 farmers who use the land, he selected only 4 of us, because we are the
community leaders. We are known because we all the time wrote the letters.
There was no official notice that we were accused in a court case. We only heard about it from a friend
that came to know the news and informed us. He had seen the letter written by U Yae Win Naing , the
son of ex general U Win Aung Htein, to the Land Registration Department of Nang Cho.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 59
Only then we found out that we were accused according to Art. 26 of the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land
Management Law of 2012. This article is about trespassing.
The case started in 2014 May 9 and is still going on. We have been to the court already 19 times, but
only 7 times something happened. The other 12 times, we were told to come, but when we arrived,
there was no judge or no lawyer, and we had to return without any progress. This is obviously bad for
us, we have to spend money to travel and when we have to go to court, we lose our working hours.
But when we are in court, we are treated with respect. From every visit to the court, we get an official
paper.
According to the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law, order no 5/2013, issued on May 17,
2013 vacant land should be 2 miles from a village. In our case, they grabbed land that is much closer to
the village. We don’t understand why the village elders, the GAD and the Land Registration Department
did not come to measure the land and investigate the situation. This is their job. Now only the buyer and
one other person measured the land. But we don’t think we can trust them because they are the ones
who took our land and they benefit.
Since they found out that their land is not legally bought, they secured a 30 year warranty that allows
them to use the land. They got this land warranty from the Land Registration Department in Nang Cho.
They applied for it, and they got it. There was no investigation. It did not happen according to the rules.
But after they got this warranty, they could accuse us farmers.
Finally, the police came to inform us that there was a case against us, and to make an investigation.
We shared all our evidence. We feel that our case is strong. We have been living here since we were
kids, this land belongs to us.
All the 42 of us in the case share the costs together. We already spend 30 lakh MMK. This was for real
expenses, we did not have to pay extra money to the court. This case already lasted for almost a year.
We expect the judge to come with the verdict coming November. We have monitored the case, heard
all the witnesses. Based on this, we have to believe the judge will decide in our favor.
60
14. Nang Cho Township, Tong Se Village Tract, Shwe Gya Ain Village
400 acres of land grabbed from 42 villagers and sold to other people who do not use the land. When the
farmers decide to start working on the land again, they face a court case.
In 1998, U Zar Gara was given permission for land tenancy for 15 acres of the grabbed 400 acres. He was
given this permission on May 1, 1998. The permission was given to him by the Village Tract SPCD and
started from that day, and in the agreement on the use of the land, there is no finishing date. It is not
sure to whom he paid the rent.
In 2000, the Hon Pa Co Ltd grabbed 400 acres of land to establish a coffee plantation. 28 of our people
were affected by this and lost their land. But the company never started the plantation.
In 2003, the company sold the land to 5 business people, 5 plots of land, one plot for each person,
together 400 acres. U Myint Shwe, U Zaw Win, Daw Shwe Yee Win, U Aye Meh and one person from
Singapore, Daw Kyin Show. They are individual business men and -woman.
We don’t know how these people were able to buy the land, apart from what these people have told us,
that they have bought the land with their own money.
They bought the land and left it, just like the company before. Nobody ever negotiated with the farmers
that had worked their land for so long already. They just took it.
They used only a small part of the land for mango and rambutan plantation, these plantations used only
10 acres of the land. Nobody used the other 390 acres.
We have learned that the law says that if land is not used for 4 years, it has to be returned to the
original owner. (Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law in 2012, chapter 6 art 16(B), and
regulation and Bylaws).
They had not used it for 10 years. So we decided to start using the land around the plantations again.
Some, but not all of us even paid tax for this. We paid tax in 2001 and 2002, and also 2014 and 2015.
Sometimes we even got tax orders for land that is not in use. This is confusing for us, and we think that
also the people who put out the tax orders are confused.
One plot of land even has different numbers in the registration. The same land, but registered with
different number. We think the Land Registration Department is not functioning well. They don’t know
what is going on. This makes it more difficult for us to get our land back.
We think there should be a proper agency where all the land records and land maps are kept and
updated. Because we lack a well-functioning agency like this, it is hard to prove that the land belongs to
us. It also makes it easier for people with authority to grab our land.
Even though they had not used the land for a long time, the people who say they bought the land
protested when we started to use it again in 2013. They told us to stop using their land.
Daw Kyin Show, who lives in Singapore, is one of the 5 businesspeople who bought the land. They are
taking us to the court, and accuse us of trespassing and harming their property according to the Vacant,
Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law chapter 9 art 26 and 27.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 61
Daw Khin Show wrote a letter to the Nang Cho Township court in July 2015. In this letter she says she
plans to do a long term plantation. She has an official transfer letter from U Thun Shwe, who gave a land
use permit to Daw Khin Show. This letter she used to accuse us of trespassing on het land.
Daw Khin Show has an agreement that she owns the land. On this agreement are the conditions under
which she can use the land. There is a document from a special attorney that U Thun Shwe transferred
the land to Daw Kyin Show on 2 January 2012. The area number on this document is wrong. On the
document is says Block no. 156, but on the tax-receipts it says block no. 25. The land registration
department should check this. The document is signed by Township tax officers, Township Officer
Department of contracts archive.
In the agreement of the sale of the land, there are many conditions attached:
That she has to use the acres included in the sale within 4 years for the project; that the land can only be
used for a coffee plantation or a long term plantation; the concerned department has to check if the
land is really used for a coffee- or a long term plantation. They don’t mention the department involved.
There are more rules for Daw Khin Show to follow in the agreement: the land can’t be used for any
other plantation, before informing ahead; tax and deposit needs to be paid for using the land. All
projects must be finished within the time limit; if the project is not finished in time, the deposit is taken
for the state fund. The agreement also says she can’t pawn, sell, transfer or divide the land without
permission from the Land Management Committee. She has to pay tax to the State. She is not allowed
to extract natural resources. If there are any natural resources found on the land, it has to be returned
to the State. It also says that if the State needs the land for infrastructure, the land has to be returned to
the State.
All these conditions are in the transfer agreement! It is very clear that the she did not follow the
conditions on the agreement.
We don’t understand how this can happen. It is already bad that somebody can buy land from a person
who grabbed it for the real owners. But how can Daw Khin Show accuse us of trespassing on het land
when she violates all the conditions of her contract? We don’t understand this.
She already received a letter on May 18, 2011 from the Long term Plants and Agriculture and Livestock
Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation. In this letter she was ordered to comply
with het contract within a month, or she should give the land back.
Now it is four years later. She never did anything. But the Land Used Department also did not do
anything after they send the letter. The Land Management Committee is responsible for handling these
cases. We never heard from them.
We can’t apply for registration with Form number 7 under the new law, because our land is now
disputed land.
Ever since our land was grabbed, our community is suffering problems. Some of us have lost everything.
Some have part of their land left that they can farm. Children had to leave school because the parents
can’t afford to pay the fees anymore. Some of us are now daily workers. Before, we worked sometimes
on the plantations on our land, but we got only little money (1500 MMK in 2011). But now, nobody is
working there anymore, because the plantations are neglected.
62
When first our land was grabbed, our country was under the military dictatorship. We didn’t know what
was going to happen till the police came, and SPDC officials as well as the local GAD. They announced
we could not use our land anymore. They came with bulldozers. They damaged some of our crops to
make way for a road they wanted to make. We never were compensated. But that time was not the
time to protest.
But we always wanted to end our hardship. In 2013, we were more aware of the laws and our rights. We
did not want to see our land unused any longer, so we decided to take some action. We decided to start
using our land again.
When we started working our land again, at first the owners didn’t notice. When they did, after a couple
of months, they put marking poles and some fences. We removed some of them to get to our land, but
we removed only what was obstructing our access to our land. After this, we got the news about the
court case.
All 5 businesspeople who bought our land accuse us in the court. We are facing 5 different cases. The
first case started in September 2014, the last one, the case from Daw Khin Show, started 6 month ago.
We feel very bad about this, we could face a sentence of two to three years, even though Daw Khin
Show broke many of the rules in het contract. We think this procedure is very unfair.
We have given all our evidence in court. We did not speak to the court, we have only visited and
observed what was happening. A lawyer from Kyaut Mae who was recommended to us, works on our
case. The case has been transferred back from Taunggyi to the court in Nang Cho.
This court case is very difficult for us to handle. We feel uncertain about the procedure. Even though we
have strong evidence, after all this time, still there has been no decision. We have no money to pay
people if necessary and we are afraid of higher officials. There are many similar court cases in this area,
and they take a long time to finish. So far we heard only from one person who got his land back, but the
case is still going on for compensation. All other cases are still pending.
Another big problem for us is that we have to spend a lot of money on the court cases. We have two
lawyers, one handles 4 related cases and the other handles our cases. The lawyers are very expensive.
We had to borrow money to cover the costs. We had to pay half already. 6 lakhs, and when the case is
finished, another 6 lakhs. We raise the money in our community, we have to pay back with interest after
we got the harvest in. We also have to pay additional costs for the travel and food expenses of the
lawyer. This is just for one lawyer. The other lawyer charges 1 lakh every time he comes. Sometimes he
comes 2 or 3 times in a month.
We also have to spend money to go to court, travel cost, food expenses. We can’t afford this kind of
costs. It is a big burden to our families and to our community. The family income to spend on living costs
per year for a family in our community is between 8 to 12 lakhs. This income comes from average 6
acres of land. In our village, we have 130 households. Some of them have no land and depend on daily
labor. They have less to spend. Some people sometimes get money from family members who have
become migrant workers, but this doesn’t happen very often.
We are very worried for our future. We think it is very unfair that we have to face these charges in
court, being accused by the people who occupied our land, and did not act in line with the agreement
that they made themselves. We don’t know the other buyers’ agreement, but we think they might be
the same as Daw Khin Show’s agreement. We only want to get our land back, we have done nothing
wrong, but still we could be convicted to prison.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 63
We also worry because we can’t be sure the court is independent. It is very difficult for us to trust the
court system. Courts should be fair to everybody, based on the law. In the current situation, we can’t be
sure of that. Maybe decisions are influenced by who has friends or who can pay extra money. We know
that already some farmers have gone to jail in cases similar as ours.
We have no fiends in higher places, and we do not have money to help our case. We depend on a fair
system. If we could trust the court to be independent, only working with the law, we would not feel so
worried. Now we have to borrow money maybe we can’t repay, and we live in uncertainty.
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15. Kyauk Mae Township, Chwey Kon Village Tract, Mwe Taw Village
From 1993 onwards, more than 100 acres of land grabbed from 27 farmers for a rubber plantation that
never happened and after that a for chicken and poultry factory farm. The farm causes health problems.
The first time they grabbed our land was in 1993. 20 Acres of land from 7 farmers was taken by Zaw Win
Tun. He is a civilian, but he has a close relationship with the government officers. He took the land to
make a rubber plantation, but this never happened. So in 1997 we decided to start working on the land
again. We didn’t ask permission for this, we just started to use the land again.
In 1996 and 1997 50 other acres of land were grabbed. 20 farmers were affected by this. Some, but not
all of us have tax receipts for the land. This time the land was taken by Captain Kyaw Thet from Brigade
22. He sold it to U Kyi Wan, a rich man from Naung Pain Gyi Village at Kyauk Mae. The captain put the
money he got for our land in his own pocket. The Land Use Registration Department did not recognize
the sale.
In 2000, we were told to come to the district SPDC officer U Aye Thaung and the Township GAD officer U
San Aung. When we got there, they told us our land would be used for a chicken and poultry farm, and
that we were no longer allowed to use it. 100 acres of land was needed for this poultry farm. This 100
acres included the land that was taken earlier by Captain Kyaw Thet from 20 farmers, and U Kyi Wan
also lost the land he bought. There was no compensation, and we were never asked our opinion. They
just told us that we could no longer use our land.
And now we have this chicken and poultry farm next to our village. It is a very big farm. We estimated
there are about 150 big barns with we don’t know how many chicken. We know that the farm is owned
by many people, but it is very hard to get clear information of this. The major owner is a private
businessman called U Than Aung.
We suffer from the stench of the animals, and also from the flies. There are so many flies, they are
everywhere. When we prepare our food, it is full of flies. It is a really bad situation for us.
In 2014 we decided we were again going to use the land that nobody used. We also decided to make a
demonstration against the poultry factory and farm.
We did the demonstration, but that did not change anything. But when we started to work our land
again, we got their attention. U Aung Lwin, Township Chair Man from the GAD; U Myint Lwin Oo, a
Police Officer; U Sai Khan Kyaw, a MP from Shan State Parliament; U Sai Myint Oo, a member of the
Township Assistant Development Committee and Party Chair of Kyauk Mae SNDP came to our village to
negotiate with the company.
The company told us it was impossible to close the factory, because the company had already invested a
lot of money in it, but they promised to reduce the bad smell and the flies.
They used chemicals to do that, but we don’t know what kind of chemicals. For two months, the smell
was less, and also we did not suffer too much from the flies. But after two months, the company
stopped reducing the smell and the flies. They told us it was too expensive.
So now we are back to the same bad situation again.
We also can’t work the land anymore, because the company threatened to take us to court. We are very
afraid of going to court, because then we don’t know what is going to happen to us.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 65
We have send many letters since 2013. The last letter we send was on April 6, 2015 to the Chairman of
the Farm and Other Landgrabbing Investigation Commission of the Union Hluttaw. In this letter we say
we want to use our land again. The other letter we wrote to the Chair of the Land Use Management
Committee of the Union government. We send this letter on April 6, 2015 as well. In this letter we also
asked to get our land back. We send copies of the letters to many authorities.
Both letters went unanswered again, we did not get any letter back. But the Farm and Other
Landgrabbing Investigation Commission promised us the poultry factory would be closed and we would
get our land back. Because they only told us this, and did not put it in a letter, it is not very useful for us.
We have no proof of the promise. We think that these kind of promises should be made in a letter, so
that we have more chance to remind the Commission of the promise.
Our community has a lot of problems since our land was grabbed. Some of us have some paddy fields
left, but most of us lost all their land.
We have to do daily labor now. The factory did not create jobs for us, only a few of our people work
there. The workers are paid low wages. The normal daily labor wage around here is 3.000 MMK per day.
In the factory, people only get 2.000 MMK per day. This is very little. And besides, we don’t want to
work for the company that grabbed our land. It gives us a bad feeling. We don’t want to support them.
Most workers in the factory are form other villages of from the dry zone. They live on company territory.
The factory buys some of our corn, to make the chickenfeed. For this, they pay the normal market price.
The waste of the chickens is sold by the company. We buy it to use for fertilizer. It is not always good
quality, because it is mixed with chaff of rice. We think the company thinks only about profit. They don’t
care about us, they only care about how much money they can make.
Because of the smell from the chickens, our health is affected. The ammoniac gasses in the waste makes
that we have difficulty breathing. The chicken barns are very close to some of the houses.
People suffer from headaches, dizziness and sore throats. We have a right to know if the chickens are
the cause of our health problems, but we can’t get information and the government doesn’t cooperate
with us.
Even if the factory was more clean, the smell was less, we did not have so much trouble with the flies
and they would offer jobs, we still want our land back. We are farmers. Farming is part of our way of life.
We don’t want to be factory workers. We want to be farmers. We want to restore our community.
We have already tried everything we know: we have demonstrated, we have written letters to the
Hluttaw, we have negotiated with the company and we have talked about our problem with the local
GAD and the government departments. Our health is very important for us: we need to be healthy to be
able to work and support our families. We want a government that addresses our problems, a
government that works for our benefit and takes our issues seriously. We want to be able to trust the
government.
The government should work for us farmers. Now, we feel that the people have to serve the
government, they order us, they take our land, they are not treating us fairly. We think that is wrong, a
government should serve the people, work for the benefit of the people.
If the government would assist us with technical improvement for our farming, and they would give us
information on how we should cultivate our land to get better crop yield, our situation would be much
66
better. We also need assistance on how to operate on the market. The government should assist us in
finding markets for our products.
We are a farming community. Our land should be returned to us so we can keep our way of living.
Every household needs approximately 10 acres of land to be able to support the family. Not for good
living, but the normal things, like food, clothes, household expenses. We want to be able to afford to
give our children a good education; if we get sick, we want to be able to afford the doctor, the
treatment and the medicine. These are normal things. We can survive on the yield of 10 acres, we can
grow our food and also have crops for selling. In our village there are 120 households. Only 20 to 25 of
our families have enough land to support themselves. The other families have a difficult time, some of
them have to go out of the country to find jobs in Thailand or Malaysia. Others have to work as daily
labor. Some also rent land to farm in other villages. This situation really affects our community.
Before they grabbed our land, we did not have that kind of trouble. We had less households then, only
about 80, but almost all of us had land, and those who did not have land, worked on the farm of other
community members. Because we were all related, we helped each other. We knew how to share. This
is the kind of community that we want, a community whose members are connected to each other. A
community where we share a common history and feel that we have a common future.
Now all this is destroyed because our land has been taken away from us.
Effect of chicken farming on health
Large chicken farms pollute the air with ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and dust that has bacteria in it that
come from the chicken and can be harmful. Ammonia in the air affects eyes and lungs.
The waste from chickens is also polluting. It has nitrogen oxides in it which is like smog.
Chicken barn
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 67
16. Taung Gyi Township, Nant See Village Tract, Pang Pet area
In 2004 and 2005 approximately 3000 acres of land was grabbed from 10 villages by Battalion 903 for
the MEC company to create Pang Pet Steel factory no.5, which is now called Pang Pet Steel factory no. 2.
37 more villages in Shan State and 23 villages on the border in Kayah State are affected by the project.
In 2004 and 2005 Battalion 930 came to our area and announced they were taking 3000 acres of land on
orders of the government to create a steel factory and a mine that would produce raw material for the
factory. There was no consultation and it was very difficult for us to get information. We only learned
what was happening when they came to fence the land. 10 villages were affected, and many farmers
lost their land.
The factory has been constructed, but it is not yet operating. At the time of construction, we saw
foreigners in the factory compound.
The factory and mining and storage area is 800 acres. Around these acres the company has put a fence.
2200 acres are not used, but there are signposts that say that nobody is allowed to enter on the basis of
the Criminal Law art. 144. There is also a signpost outside the factory that says this project is under the
Ministry of Industry nr.2 (for heavy industry).
At the time of the land grabbing, we were given some compensation, but the compensation given was
only 5000 MMK per acre. We didn’t want this kind of compensation, it is not fair, but we had no chance
to object at that time. Some, but not all of us accepted the compensation because we were told that
they would take our land anyway, whether or not we took the compensation. One family also lost their
house to the project, but this was not compensated.
Factory view
68
Pang Pat Steel Factory
nr. 2
In 5 villages 92 farmers lost their land and 188 farmers in the other 5 villages are affected. Before this
happened, we had a good life in our villages. We could make a living for our families. We had enough
land to secure a living, because our land is good and we have water all year round, so we can plant
seasonal crops. Now, our communities are facing with broken families because many people have to go
and be migrant workers and we have social and economic difficulties.
We have tried to adjust to the situation, because it was not possible to protest in the past.
But from 2011 we started to do something to change our situation. We collected information as best as
we could and the PaO Youth Organization started doing research on the factory. At that time we held a
media conference. Journalists came to visit our villages and asked questions to us and to the workers of
the factory. One boy cut out an article of a journal, on it he wrote: ‘please safe Pang Pet’. He gave this to
people (we don’t know to who exactly). The District Police Officer found out about it and threatened the
boy to accuse him with article 505 of the Criminal Law: `false statement, rumour etc. circulated with the
intent to cause mutiny or offence against the public peace’. The boy worked for DEMO Association. We
don’t have evidence, but many witnesses.
In August 2012, the Union Parliament Farmland and Other Landgrabbing Cases Investigation
Commission’s Chair for Shan and Kayah, U Thin Thut came to our area together with U Sai Thun Sein
from the Hopon GAD. They came to investigate the land use in our area. We have never heard about the
results of their investigation and there was no follow up.
The farmers in our communities who lost their land when it was grabbed in 2004/2005, are facing the
problem of compensation. They did not receive compensation according to the law; they were given
only 5000 MMK per acre. For 2010 acres this compensation was offered, but not for the other 990 acres
that were taken. At that time we had no chance to protest, but now, we can demand that we are
treated fairly and get compensation according to the law. We also want to get the land back that is not
used by the company. The company only uses and fence 800 acres, so we want the other 2200 acres
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 69
back to rebuild our lives and our communities. According to the Land Law of 2012, land that is not used
for the purpose for which is was taken within 4 years, has to be given back to the original farmers.
It is not clear to us how much land is really taken by the company. From the beginning of the project,
sometimes people from the company came to our villages and dug holes in our fields because they
wanted to test for the natural resource they are mining. We don’t know what they are looking for. It is
difficult to get information. Another time, in one village near the road, we were putting up a village
signboard. When we did that, the company came and forbade us to do this. Thy even made a complaint
to the police about it, and we were summoned to come to the police office. But when we explained,
nobody was arrested. But it makes us worried about the amount of our land that is grabbed by the
company. Because the land where they dug the holes for testing and the land where we put up the
signboard is not within the fenced area of 800 acres.
We are afraid that now we will have another problem. When people from the 37 villages in the area in
Shan State went to the Township Land Registration Department to apply for Form nr. 7, we were told
that we need approval of the factory administrator before we can apply to register our land. At the
same time, the factory administrator told that we were not allowed to plant long term crops like
oranges, apples and like that on our land. In all the 37 villages! We don’t understand why we have to
have approval from the factory. Land registration is the responsibility of the Land Registration
Department. They have to follow the regulations in the Land Law. This worries us very much, because
we think we might lose more land.
We don’t know what is happening in the factory compound. We don’t know what they are mining. But
we think the waste water from the mine enters our stream through a pipe. When we inquired about
this, the factory administrator said it wasn’t waste water, but rainwater overflow. But we feel unsafe,
this water we use for drinking, for our animals and for our fields. And now we are told we can’t plant
permanent crops in our field anymore. Because nobody explains to us why, we are confused and
worried.
We have a right to know what they do so close to where we live, and what they are putting in our
stream.
Therefore, on June 6, 2014 we decided to write letters about our case on behalf of all the villages. In the
letter we explain our situation about the compensation and our worries for the future of our villages.
We attached the information needed to back up our story. We send it to Vice President U Nyain Htun
and a lot of departments.
On July 14, 2014 we send a letter to Steel Factory nr. 2, Pang Pet, Ministry of Industry nr. 1 in Taunggyi.
In this letter we request that they to mention the exact acres of land that were grabbed by the
company. We also wrote that we want land compensation and grievance compensation according to the
Land Law and with transparency. We wrote we want to be free to work on our land. 9 farmers from Kon
Sein village; 39 farmers from Naung Khar Khe village, 25 farmers from Mae Hae village; 14 farmers from
Ti O Seim village; 3 farmers from Pin Moe village signed this letter together with 4 village
representatives.
We never got any answer to these letters.
70
Because we can’t get the information we need, we asked MATA for help through the Shan State EITI.
On July 17, 2014 MATA wrote a letter for us to the Union Ministry of Mining to explain our situation and
that we are very worried for the future. They wrote that there is no clarity on what land has been taken
from the community, and that we want to know the exact acreage of the project. They also inquire
about the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, the environmental conservation management
plan, the environmental auditing and monitoring plan, a negative impact/risk assessment, and the
defence plan against air pollution. They wrote that the community needs to be informed of what is
happening, and that our questions need to be answered.
On July 30, the Ministry of Mining send a reply letter. In this letter they state that there is a mining block
in our area of 164, 2 acres. That they are mining raw material for the Steel Factory nr. 5, but that they
can’t give information on what is mined because they are still negotiating with the Ministry of Industry
on the MoA for this project. The Ministry of Mining wrote that we had to inquire with the Ministry of
Industry, nr 2 Steel Mill Pang Pet for the information we request.
On August 5, 2015, MATA send another letter for us, this time to nr. 2 Heavy Industry Department,
Ministry of Industry, Nay Pyi Taw to request the information.
We did not get any information yet.
In April and May 2015 we have organised a committee in our villages to share what is happening and to
work together to change our situation and try to get the information we need. It is so difficult to get
information about the factory and the mining project in our area. Till now, we can’t work on the land
that is not used by the company, we can’t register our land in the 37 villages and we don’t know what is
mined and what kind of waste is coming into our land and water source.
The factory has announced that it will begin production in 2016. We want answers to our questions
before the factory starts to operate.
Factory sign board
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 71
Southern view of
factory
Waste water flows
into the stream
Fact
72
On the signpost: “Land owned by military”
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 73
17. PaO Self Administrative Zone, Pinlaung Township, Htein Pn Village Tract,
Paunglaung area
Hydro-electric power plant and dam build by the Union Ministry of Power. The project was started in
2012. 23 villages in 2 Village Tracts were affected, in total 2524 households were relocated. In July 2013,
the area was flooded.
In 2012 the Union ministry of Electricity announced they were building a dam in our area, and that our
villages would be flooded by the lake made by the dam they were going to build. They told us we would
be relocated to another place. We were never asked our opinion. Nobody cared for what we wanted.
They just announced.
They held a meeting with us at January 9, 2013. In this meeting they explained many things about the
project and they assured us our life would be much better in the new village where they would put us.
They made many promises to us.
Because we were going to be relocated, the staff members from the Ministry of Electricity of Shan State,
the deputy director of the Union Ministry of Electricity from Nay Pyi Taw, U Thaun Hun, came to
negotiate with us. The deputy director of the Ministry promised us we would get many things, but he
also said he had no decision making power; he assured us he would bring all our demands to the highest
level.
We made an agreement that said we would be given three years free electricity; we would get grievance
compensation according to the law; we would get substitute land; we would be compensated for the
loss of our houses based on the type of house, but we had to build the house ourselves. We also had to
pay ourselves for the cost of moving to the relocation area. The government would supply material for
our water supply, but we had to build it ourselves. The government would replace the monastery,
schools and clinic we had in our old villages. Every household would get a 180 square feet plot of land to
build a new house. It would be prepared for building.
The meeting was an official meeting, the promises were officially announced.
But it did not happen according to the promises.
We learned that the land for our relocation place was grabbed form other people. We were relocated to
two areas, Lonkae and Dalainma (Htein Pin Village Tract: Htein Pin, Oak Chik Kone, Ywar Ma, Kyaung
Ywar, Kone Chaing, Si Sone Kone, Lain Le, Nan Sa Kae, Kyat Kyee, Htan Ta Bin, Bann Yinn, Lat Pan Ta
Kae villages, and Tha Pyae Kone Village Tract: Ywar Gyee, Gway Kone, Hin Thar Kone, Thin Baw Kone,
Kan Hla, Mae Li, Thapyae Kone, Shan Kone, Lae Pyin Kyee and Zay Kone villages).
We don’t know how many acres were taken from the people there, but it must be quite a lot, because a
lot of land and a lot of houses were in the flooded area. Some of these people already had Form nr. 7,
and were official owners of the land. They have paid crop tax and land tax receipts.
The government offered them compensation for the land and the crops of 1.050.000 MMK per acre, but
this is not the market price. At that time the market price for land is this area is round 1.500. 000 MMK
per acre.
74
The land some of us got to build our houses belonged to other farmers. Those 7 famers had not yet
registered their land. So there land was grabbed to be given to us. The farmers did not get any
compensation for the loss of their land. But the land was not given to us. 35 acres were taken by
local GAD staff: the Thapyay Kone Village Tract GAD U Nyunt Win, Lae Pyin Gyin Village U Kyaw Ngwe
and U Min Zaw from the Ministry of Electricity. We know this land was meant for relocation because the
people who had to relocate there had an ID on which the plot of land assigned to them is indicated. The
farmers could not relocate to the land assigned on their ID’s, because these 3 persons - U Nyunt Win, U
Kyaw Ngwe and U Min Zaw - took the land allocated to some of us and send 150 families who should
have been on this land to land that was grabbed from U Than Myint and the paddy land of 6 other
farmers. The land that was meant for relocation is now used for a plantation.
On the farmland grabbed from the 7 farmers are now houses where the relocated villagers live.
We understand that this is very unfair. The 7 farmers who lost their land want to get it back, and the 150
families want to settle on the land that was meant for them.
There was another meeting on January 22, 2013, where they talked about the amount of compensation
for our houses. In this meeting, staff from the Department of Hydropower Electricity, the Health
Department, the Village GAD, the Village Tract GAD and the Village Elders came together. We, the
villagers, had to wait outside. A working committee was created. This committee was made up of staff
from the Department of Hydropower Electricity, the Health Department, the Village GAD, the Village
Tract GAD and the Village Elders. We were not directly involved in this committee, and we also had no
representative in the committee.
They made lists of all the houses in every village – who lived in what place, in what kind of house and
how much compensation was given for the house and the farmland etc. We had to sign for this.
But these lists were secret. They didn’t share them with us. But luckily, we found a way to see some of
the lists.
When we saw the lists, we were very worried, because we saw a lot of mistakes. One lady was listed to
get a new house, but she did not have a house in our village. She lived with her parents. Her father was
the Village Tract Secretary of the GAD. Some people were listed to get compensation for a new house,
but their old house was not in the area that would be flooded. Another mistake was that a woman who
lives in Rakhine state was listed to get more than 2 million MMK for a house. The signature on the list
for this was not from the woman, but from the village GAD officer. On the list we can also see that one
person signed more than one time.
This is very unfair. The lists should have been made together with the villagers. They should have been
public and everything on the list should have been verified with the community. But this did not happen.
People who were affected didn’t not get compensation. 42 households only got 300.000 MMK for crop
compensation because their houses were not in the flooded area; some only got farm and cultivation
land compensation, but not for their houses and not for their long term plantations. These are examples
from the lists of Phoe Kone village. There are two village tracts involved in this project. We are
suspicious that the lists were manipulated. We are suspicious that people in the committee who made
the lists were thinking of their benefit and the benefit of their friends, and did not care about us, the
people who lost their villages.
We had to sign the lists, even though we knew it was not right. Many of us were afraid, our future was
very insecure, so many signed the list.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 75
Later we discovered that the 42 families who had gotten only crop compensation because their houses
were not in the flooded area, did in fact lose their house as it disappeared under the water of the new
lake.
We have had a lot of meetings with the authorities, we had an investigation on October 2, 2014, we had
press conference and media attention. But nothing happened.
One of the teachers in our village protested. She was immediately transferred to another place.
We were angry about what happened. But we were also afraid. We did not agree with what was
happening. But it was very difficult to protest. Because of our history, everybody is afraid of people in
uniform and people with authority.
The meeting that was held to tell us about what compensation we would get was very threatening.
Many of us were afraid, our future was very insecure, so many signed the list. In the meeting where we
had to sign the list, the police was present. They had handcuffs and sticks. They told us that we had to
accept the compensation, if we did not sign, they would destroy our properties anyway. We did not take
a record of this meeting. In our village we are poor, we can’t afford cameras or mobile phones, so we
could not take pictures. We have no recording devices, so we could not record what was said and done.
And even if we had those things, we feel they would have prevented us from using them. They did not
want a record. But many people witnessed the meeting.
Afterwards, they presented the results of the meeting as if it was a consultation meeting and we gave
our agreement after negotiations. But this is not what happened.
In our village we have a long history of abuse by people in uniform. During the military government,
many times soldiers came to our village and forced us to work for them as porters and to construct their
buildings. We had to dig ditches or put up fences. They also used us for transportation of their cargo and
ammunition from village to villages, or we had to bring their messages from one place to another. We
saw the military shoot people they didn’t like. When we were taken as porters to the frontline, we saw
many bad things, and we suffered from the bad treatment. This happened in all 23 villages in the
flooded area.
They made us pay for the use of bullock cards but when they use our motorcycles, they never paid
anything. We never received any money for our work, we had to do everything without pay. This
happened up to 2012.
We were afraid. We did not dare to protest. We are afraid of people in uniforms. They can do anything
they want.
We thought that under the new government things would change. But for us, nothing changed at all.
But now we know we have rights. If now the GAD wants us to work for them, we can say: do we have a
choice? And then they have to say: yes, you do. So now we can refuse. But even now that the GAD on
village level is elected, the same small group of people that controlled us before are controlling us now.
The elections are not free and fair, when we elect a village leader we like, and who wants to work
together with us for our benefit, this village leader will be obstructed or fired. There is no openness, so it
is very difficult for us to believe the government has good intentions, when they can kick out the leaders
that we elect and like and replace them with their own choice.
With the compensation we had no chance to protest, or to object. Nobody listened to us and now our
villages are flooded and we are left to rebuild our lives without any support from the government.
76
They promised us many things, but we did not get any of it. They said our lives would be much better
after the relocation. But the truth is: everything is much worse. This makes us very angry and
disappointed.
We have lost our land and our communities, and we were never even asked for our opinion. They have
told us lies. We had no part in the decision making on the compensation. We want to change our
situation, we want things to be put right by the government.
Because of what happened to us, we know that we can only get a government that we can trust if we
are part of it. We need free and fair elections on every level of government, also at our local level. The
Land Registration Department, the Land Management Committee, the Education and Health
departments, and the GAD officials: they all need to be elected and know how to consult us. The have to
really represent us. How can they work for us if they do not represent us? We know that this needs a
change in the system. Now, everything is controlled by a small group of people who don’t listen to us.
They never ask us what we think. They make decisions that affect our lives and they act as if we are not
important. But it is our life!
If you look at our community now, we are worse off than before. We lost our houses, our lands, our
pagodas, schools and everything else. It all disappeared under the water. Even though they replaced our
schools and our pagodas, it is not the same. Our communities are disrupted. We are farmers, how can
we survive without land? Some of us are now migrant workers, others have to do daily labor. Our
community faces a lot of problems, we are poorer than before.
Resettled house near marker to indicate flooding area
Tree in the artificial lake
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 77
We had to sell our cattle because we have no place to graze them anymore. Our communities have
more crime. People are using drugs now, because they have no future. Some people got rich from all
our troubles, while others have lost everything. Many people get depressed. 20 people in the affected
communities tried suicide, 8 people died because of this.
And now, they are even taken away the trees that we have left, they are logging with elephants.
We want this to stop. We deserve a decent life. We want a government that keeps its promises, and
considers what we need. We want an independent investigation of what happened to us. We want fair
compensation for what we have lost, so we can build a new life. We were forced from our ancestral
villages. They have disappeared. These kind of decisions should be taken with consent of the
communities affected. We have suffered long enough. It is time for change.
View of resettlement
area
The lake created by
the dam
78
18. Tachileik Township, Tah Leh Sun Township, Mine Linn Village Tract, Nar Hi
Long Village
From 2007 onwards, 10 companies are mining for gold in an area of 11 square miles. The activities of
three companies, Saitit Company, Lwe Khan Lon Company and Sai Agriculture Company are affecting the
livelihood of Nar Hi Long villagers. Around 340 farmer are affected in this village.
In 2007, the companies started mining for gold on the hills overlooking our village. They cleared the area
where they were mining (181,95 acres) and started digging the earth. From the beginning of their
operation, they piled up the waste from the mine – the earth that was left after they took out the gold.
When the pile gets big enough, they push it to the bottom of the hill. When it rains, the dirt mixes with
the water and flows into our Nam Kham stream. There are no trees on the hillside anymore to stop this.
The stream flows through our paddy fields and our village. We use the water for our fields and our
animals drink from it.
Because of the mining waste in the stream, the stream silts up, now the level of the water is only 1 feet.
It used to be 10 feet. From 2009-2010 onwards, our paddy fields were flooded by the stream.
Because the streambed is silted up, and some parts of the stream are very narrow, the water mixed with
the waste from the goldmine floods our paddy fields. The water flows away into the stream again, but
all the dirt is left on our fields. They are totally destroyed. 300 acres of our land had become useless for
farming.
Cattle wading through
polluted stream
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 79
We also started to worry about what kind of chemicals were in the waste of the mine. Some of our
animals died, and we know they drink the water from the Nam Kham stream. People in our village also
got skin disease and other health problems. We are afraid it is because of the chemicals they use in the
mining process.
Because of this situation, we complained to the Union Ministry of Mining. The mining projects in our
area are under the responsibility of the Union Ministry. We shared our worries and our problems and
they send a medical team to investigate. They tested the water from the stream. The ministry of Health
reported that they did not find any toxic things in the water. We didn’t see the results of the testing.
But we think something must have happened on the higher level, because there was a meeting on
December 18, 2013 at Tar Lay Sub-Township GAD Office where they decided the total area of land in
Nar Hi Long village is 181.94 acres, of which 93,5 acres is affected.
On December 20, 2013, the Township GAD told us that the companies had to pay 50 bags of paddy
seeds per acre of destroyed land, or, if we didn’t want the seeds, we would get 15.000 Thai Baht per
acre. They showed us a list that said who should get this compensation. The Township GAD send a letter
to the District GAD and copies to the companies with this information on December 20, 2013.
The total area of land that they said would be compensated was 93,5 acres. But 300 acres of our land is
affected by the waste of the goldmining companies. So we were not very satisfied.
After that, no action was taken by the authorities or the companies.
On July 16, 2014, we organized a press conference in Taunggyi. The Shan Framers Network, based in
Thailand, had come to our village and made a report on our situation. At the press conference, we
presented this report. We also shared our complaints and our worries. We said that our fields and our
water source were destroyed by the goldmining. We said we didn’t know what chemicals are in the
waste but that our animals die and our people get sick. We said we wanted our problems to be solved.
We want the mining to stop. We want compensation, and we want the companies to repair the damage
to our fields and to our stream.
Two days later, the Minister of Mining and Forestry from the Shan State government, U Sai Aik Paung,
called the villagers who were in Taunggyi because of the press conference to his office. Representatives
from the Saitit Company and the Lwe Khank Lon Company, two of the three companies mining in our
area, were also there as well as the District GAD chairman. U Sai Aik Paung said that the mining
companies should follow the rules and regulations of the Ministry of Mining and that they should take
responsibility for the consequences of their operation. He also said that the goldmining in Tah Leh is
under the Union Ministry of Mining and that it is difficult for the Shan State government to solve this
problem.
U Sai Aik Paung told the companies to give us crop compensation, or else he would bring the companies
to court. We asked for crop compensation for 5 years, but U Sai Aik Paung said that was impossible. We
also demanded the mining to be stopped. These demands cause some problems in the meeting.
But U Sai Aik Paung said there would be an investigation committee with representatives from the
Township GAD and the Land Use Department.
80
On August 5, U Sai Aik Paung came to Tachileik to meet again with us and with the companies. This time
also Sai Agriculture Company, which is also mining in our area, was present. In this meeting, U Sai Aik
Paung ordered the companies to stop their mining and remove their machines. He also ordered the
companies to repair our stream and our fields and prevent them from being damaged again, in such a
way that we, the villagers, were satisfied. He also ordered we should get crop compensation of 660.000
MMK per acre for 168 acres of paddy.
After this meeting, the investigation committee came to our village from 7 to 11 August 2014 to
investigate. People from the GAD, the Township Land Use Department, the Township Agriculture
Department, the nr. 2 Mining Department, the Village Tract leader and the Development Assistance
Committee were in the investigation committee. They made a report on August 14. But this report is an
internal report. We were not informed about what was the outcome of the investigation. We did not
see the report.
Because of the lack of information, and because we were worried for our health and our future, we
send a letter to the Shan State EITI to share our problems and to ask about the chemicals that are used
for the goldmining. Because we thought the mining would stop because of the order of the Shan State
government, we decided to wait before taking action and to see what happened.
On September 16, 2014, U Sai Aik Paung issued a direct order to the Assistant Director of Eastern Shan
State GAD, to report directly to him what has been done after the August 5 meeting. He reminded his
staff what needed to be done:
Damaged streambed
near village
The mining operation had to stop and had to be handed over the Union Ministry of Mining; The
compensation for the 168 acres of paddy should be handed over directly to the villagers; the remaining
part of the 300 acres should also be investigated by the Township Level government departments, and
the company has to repair and protect the stream and the land of the villagers.
Attached to this letter is a list of who is responsible for what. Daw Nang Leh, who lives in our village, is
responsible for communication with the villagers. Ministry of Mining nr 2 Department staff needs to
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 81
investigate block 4 and 5 of the mining operation and check if they operate according to the rules and
investigate the environmental impact of the mining.
We think the order for the Shan State government is clear. All the government staff should know what
they have to do. But nothing happened.
On November 18, 2014, U Sai Aik Paung again called a meeting, with the same persons attending, to
remind them that they have to do their job, because they had not done an environmental impact
investigation and the companies had not started to repair the land and the stream. In this meeting, 7 of
us villagers were present to represent our community.
In December 2014, the process of giving compensation was started, but not everybody got
compensation yet. They had made the list for how many acres from which farmer was destroyed. This
list covers 92,35 acres only. We think the process of giving the compensation is very slow.
In May 2015 we decided that we had been patient long enough to wait for answers, and that the order
from the Shan State government was not followed properly. We also found out that the companies
were using cyanide in the process of taking the gold out of the earth. This cyanide is stored on the
compound of the mine. We send a letter to MATA to help us, because for us it is very difficult to get the
information we need. On 29 May, 2015, MATA send a letter to the Ministry of Mining on the Union level
to enquire about the licenses of the companies in our area, and to find out if they have permission to
use cyanide.
On June 9, 2015, we got a reply from the Union Ministry of Mining. They send a list of the companies
that are allowed to use cyanide. The companies in our area were not included in the list. They also send
information on the licenses of the three companies. It turned out that the license of Saitit Company had
already expired on March 6, 2014, that the license of Lwe Khank Lon Company expired on February 24,
2015 and that the Sai agriculture Company had no license at all.
We don’t understand that these companies are allowed to continue to operate and also use cyanide
without licenses. Why is the Shan State government allowing them to neglect their order? Why are they
not making sure the companies operate according to the law? We still can’t use our fields, our stream is
almost dry, and we, our animals, our crops and our forests are suffering from the chemicals used
without permission.
So on October 9, 2015, we send a letter to the District GAD to share our information and to ask them
how then can allow this to happen.
A few days later, on October 14, a group of 20 farmers from our village went to the hill were the mine is.
Because of the heavy rains we were afraid for our paddy fields. We were going to ask the mining
companies not to shove the mining waste to the bottom of our mountain for a few days. We were going
to ask nicely, we didn’t want to make any problems, we just really were worried because of the rain and
what could happen when the waste was shoved down the mountain. We were on our way to the Lwe
Khank Lon mining area, when we met soldiers on Battalion 330. They didn’t say anything, they just
started to shoot. Aye Shan, one of the farmers in our village, died from the bullets. Some others are
wounded.
82
We are very upset by what has happened. We don’t understand why the soldiers were there. The
mining companies have their own security. The army should not protect the mines. The army should
protect the people.
Cyanide barrels stored
at mining site
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 83
Mining process in
which cyanide is used
Basin filled with
diluted cyanide
84
Overview of mining
area
Waste water
management system
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 85
Damaged fields –
flooded by mining
waste water
86
19. Nam Sam Township, Number 5 Village Tract, village no. 4 and 5
In 1991, 2000 acres of land were grabbed from village nr.4 and village nr.5 to make space for a military
compound for battalion 247 and battalion 319.
Our families have been living in this area from 1962 onwards. In 1962, soldiers who had fought against
the Kwo Min Tang and who retired from active service were offered land for resettlement. They were
invited to come to the area and see if they wanted to live there. Those who decided to settle, made an
agreement with the military for 15 acres of land per family to live on and to use. They were not given
this land for free. They signed a contract for the land and the amount of monthly instalments they had
to pay to buy the land and become the formal owner of the land. The instalments were deducted from
the pension from the army.
Many people made this contract and resettled in the area. All together 10 villages were created in this
way. The resettlement land was jungle land. In 1958, the government started clearing the land. The
application process started in 1962 and was completed in 1964. Every village got an area of 750 acres.
All families finished paying the instalments and because of the agreement, they are now the owners of
the land. As the communities grew, more land was cultivated and used for shifting cultivation. About
750 acres for village 4 and 5 each was added to the original land. For this land, we paid land tax to the
government. The total land area of village number 4 and 5 is 3000 acres.
In 1992, the army demanded the land of village 4 and 5 back. They took 2000 acres. They said the land
still belonged to the military and they needed it because of the security situation in the area. We
showed then our agreements, but they didn’t care, they said: this area is not stable, we need this land.
They were bringing 13 new battalions in Nam Sam Township, so they were going to take our land. In this
time, there were a lot of small ethnic armed groups active in our area, it was a very insecure period.
We didn’t want the army to come to our villages and take our land and settle the battalions close to our
village. But we could not do anything.
Battalion 247 came to village 4 and 5. This is a fighting battalion. In village number 4, battalion 931 was
settled as well. This is a battalion that has to supply battalion 247. All together 1500 soldiers came to
our two villages. Village number 4 and number 5 each have 96 houses. The soldiers outnumbered the
villagers. From 1993 to 1995, we were forced to work for the military in constructing their barracks. We
were not paid for that. The battalions use only 200 acres each, leaving 1600 acres of land unused.
From 1995 onwards, we have been working on this 1600 acres. We had to pay tax to the military. For
paddy land we had to pay 10.000 MMK per acre per year. For other cropland we had to pay 8.000 MMK
per acre per year. We paid this, but we don’t have receipts for this. The military never give us a receipt.
But we have a list of 2010-2011 from the military with the name of the farmer and the type of crop, and
the amount of tax to be paid.
Till 2003, 2004, we were also forced to work on the military land without pay. We were afraid,
sometimes there was violence. They could do whatever they wanted. After that, the forced labour
stopped because of an order from general Than Shwe. But we were still afraid of the soldiers.
Sometimes, when there is a festival time, we can celebrate together, and we can sit in the same
teahouse with the common soldiers. But we are afraid of the commanders and the higher military.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 87
We are also afraid of the authorities and the GAD in our area, because the authorities and the GAD and
the military have close connections, and many in the GAD come from the military.
We always paid the land tax to the military. The tax orders were signed by the battalion chief, and after
2011 by the Village Administrator who is attached to the GAD. But after 2012, we stopped getting the
tax order. We don’t know why it stopped, but we heard from a friend that there was an order from the
Ministry of Defence that the military should not ask for tax from the farmers anymore. We read in the
Myawaddy newspaper on July 27, 2013, that land that had been grabbed by the military and was not
used should be partly returned to the former owners.
We don’t know if our land is part of the land that is released by the military, but after we read this, we
went to the Township Land Use Department to ask if village 4 and 5 were involved in this, but they
didn’t know and said they would inquire.
On December 9, 2013, we decided to write a letter to inquire ourselves and try to get our land back. We
explained the history of our settlements and that our land was taken from us in 1992. We also quoted
the newspaper article with the announcement of General Way Lwin. 17 people from our village, village
number 5, signed the letter. We send it to The Village Tract GAD of number 5 Village Tract and copies to
the commander of infantry battalion 247, the Nam Sam GAD, the chairman of the Nam Sam Land Use
management Committee and Copy to the NLD in Nam Sam.
After we send the letter, we were called to come and meet with a major from battalion 247. He told us
that only if he would get an order from president U Thein Sein or the Commander in Chief U Min Aung
Hlaing, he would give the land back. He also said that we had to show him the evidence that the land
was our land. We had brought copies of the agreements and the land tax receipts, but the major did not
accept the copies and send us home to get the originals. This we did, but when we got back he said:
even if you have proof like this, we will never give the land back.
It was a very bad meeting, and we left feeling very angry. We did not make a complaint against this
major, because we are afraid to do that. The military still has the power and they still don’t care for our
rights.
In village number 4, the villagers also wrote a letter. In this letter they asked to be given their land back,
or get substitution land or compensation according to the law. After this letter was send, an officer of
battalion 931 reacted by calling a meeting. In this meeting he only said that if he would get the order to
give the land back, he would call the villagers again. This meeting was more friendly than the meeting
with the major of battalion 247, but ended the same.
The villagers in village number 4 got discouraged. But we in village number 5 don’t want to give up. We
send letters on September 25, 2014 to the Commander in Chief Office in Nay Pyi Taw with a copy to the
Hluttaw ( the Upper and Low House Commission) and a copy to the Chief Minister of Shan State. We
also send it to the Chairman of the Land Use Management Office, Vice President U Nyan Tun in Nay Pyi
Taw. We wrote that we want our land back, explained our history and attached our tax receipts and the
resettlement agreements.
The Nam Sam Land Registration Department reacted by calling a meeting in the GAD office on May 14,
2015, giving instructions to the Village Number 5 Village Tract GAD that they should investigate the case.
They came to measure the land in our village, but not in village number 4 and 6. After this measuring,
they have to investigate the claims.
88
On July 22, 2015, 5 of us farmers were called for a meeting at the Township Land Use Department Office
at Nam Sam, with the Land Registration Department, the National Planning Department and the
Department of Agriculture and Irrigation. They told us they would send their findings to the higher level.
They didn’t say what the findings were.
In August 2015 we went to the Township Land Registration Department to ask what was happening,
because we did not get any news. U Hla Tun, the Township Land Use and Registration Department
Officer, said to us they were very busy and they had not yet sent the case to the higher level. They said
they had not done any examination on the case because the military won’t give the land back anyway.
We don’t know if he had heard that from the military, or got instructions from them. But this is what he
said to us. He also said: go ahead, complain if you want to, I don’t care.
On August 22, 2015, one of us farmers, U Maung Nyo did a demonstration in Nam Sam. Just by himself.
He was walking in the street and shouting that they should give the land back and release all farmers
who are in the jail. He also said things about president U Thein Sein, that he should care for the farmers
because he is also eating rice. But his words were not so nice. He said he had sent a letter to say that he
was going to do a demonstration, but the authorities said that he didn’t. He was arrested in September
and charged under art. 18 and 505 (Art. 18 is in Peaceful Assembly Law 2011 and is about unlawful
demonstration; art. 505 is in the Criminal Law and is about false statement circulated with the intent to
cause mutiny or offence)
He was in the police station cell for one and a half months while he was on trial. He was convicted to 3
months in jail. He has been released now. We don’t know if he asked permission to do what he did, but
we feel that he should have the right to express his opinion freely, without risking to go to jail.
We are angry. We feel the land that was given to our families and for which our families paid, is stolen
from us. We also want to apply for registration for our land. We want to safeguard the future of our
village. We don’t understand why there is no follow up on our case. We don’t understand why the
authorities don’t follow the proper procedure. We think it might be because the civil servants and the
military are too much connected. We don’t want to live in fear for what the military can do to us
anymore. We want to live in peace on our own land.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 89
Effects of mining on environment and health.
Mining of natural resources has effects on the environment and the health of people and animals.
Many of the mining projects in Shan State are not regulated properly and no Environmental and Social
Impact Assessments made. Effects on the health of people and animals is not monitored and the waste
of mines is not properly treated. We have learned that extraction of natural resources is a threat to the
environment, health and biodiversity.
Therefore, we worry for our future and the future of our children.
All mining has effect on the environment, because of the release of acid from the earth. Acid mine
drainage is very dangerous for water. A mine draining acid can devastate rivers, streams, and aquatic life
for a very long time and has a lasting effect on biodiversity and life on our planet.
At metal mines, the ore that is taken from the earth, like gold, silver, copper and other metals, is often
rich in sulphide minerals. When the earth is disturbed because of the mining, the sulphides come into
contact with water and air, where they react together to form sulphuric acid.
This acid can dissolve other harmful metals and metalloids (such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium) from
the surrounding rock.
Acid mine drainage can be formed and released anywhere on the mine compound where sulphides are
exposed to air and water, including waste rock piles, tailings, open pits, underground tunnels, and leach
pads.
Acid drainage can be seen as an orange-yellow substance named “yellow boy” when it has values above
PH3. Acid mine drainage can have bad impacts on fish, animals and plants. If the PH value become
around PH4, the stream becomes like battery acid.
Acid mine drainage is especially dangerous and harmful, because it continues long after the mining has
stopped.
Sulphuric acid also directly affects people and animals when they are exposed to it. Sulphuric acid is very
corrosive and it can cause the skin to be burned or very irritated, it can damage the lungs and can cause
pulmonary oedema, when the lungs fill up with fluid. Eyes can become very irritated and blindness can
be the result. When people swallow it, their mouth and insides are burned.
Effect of Lead mining
When people and animals get lead parts into their body through food or water or through breathing
polluted air, it can affect their health. Especially for young children it is dangerous, as if affects the
development of their nerve system. Small parts of lead can attach themselves to dust and be carried on
the wind for long distances. When it rains, the lead falls on the soil and can stay there for a long time. It
can also seep into the groundwater when there is heavy rain. From the groundwater, it will reach the
water systems.
Lead is poisonous. People can suffer from feeling very tired, easily get angry and lose concentration.
They can lose their appetite and can suffer from problems with the stomach. They can also have
problems sleeping. Because of these general symptom, it is not easy to detect lead poisoning. But when
untreated, it can cause serious and permanent damage to health. Other symptoms of exposure for
adults to lead particles include poor muscle coordination, damage of the nerves, high blood pressure,
problems with hearing and seeing, problems with being able to create a baby.
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It can also cause babies to be born underweight or with defects.
For children, exposure to lead can cause damage to the brain and nervous system, problems with their
attitude and behavior, being over active, anemia (unhealthy blood), damage to liver and kidneys,
problems with hearing and stunted development. If the poisoning is very bad, it can cause death.
Children under 7 are more at risk than older persons.
Effect of coal mining and coal fed power plants
Coal is a non-renewable fossil fuel that comes in different types. All types are equally harmful to health
and the environment when extracted and used for coal fed power plants.
Extraction, whether in open or deep pit mining, destroys the landscape and causes soil erosion.
Coal particles released during the mining process contaminate the air and the water. Coal dust affects
breathing and is harmful for the lungs.
When coal in burned in coal fed power plants, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are released in the air.
This effects the lung tissue and causes breathing problems. Minerals like arsenic, mercury, chromium
and cadmium are embedded in the coal and are released in the extraction process. These minerals are
carried in the air and can easily be dissolved in water, causing pollution of the air and the water and has
a great impact on people, animals and vegetation.
Coal fed power plants need a lot of water during the production process of energy. Waste water and
ashes from the burning of coal are easily resolved in water and contaminates surface and groundwater.
The waste water from this process has a higher temperature and contains chlorine and other chemicals.
When released into the environment it causes a decline in algae and other life in the water.
The smoke from coal fed power plants contains mercury. Mercury causes neurological problems in
people. It affects unborn babies and impacts negatively on their development.
It causes disorder in the neurological and nerve system of children and adults. It causes disorientation
and disfunctioning of the body. It also causes visual problems and heart problems.
Effect of cyanide used in mining gold
Cyanide is a very poisonous chemical. Exposure to high levels of cyanide harms the brain and heart, and
may cause coma and death. Exposure to lower levels may result in breathing difficulties, heart pains,
vomiting, blood changes, headaches, and enlargement of the thyroid gland. Even exposure for a short
time to high levels of cyanide in the air harms the brain and heart, and may cause coma and death.
Exposure to lower levels of cyanide for a long time may result in breathing difficulties, heart pains,
vomiting, blood changes, headaches, and enlargement of the thyroid gland. If people get large amounts
of cyanide in their bodies though food, they can have symptoms including shortness of breath,
convulsions, and loss of consciousness. It can also cause people to die.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 91
.. What we have done to address the problems that we face.
As can be seen from the experiences shared in the stories from all parts of Shan State, we are trying to
address our problems. In many parts of the State we are forming groups and committees to work
together to try and solve our problems and make the life of our people better. We have written many
letters, we had meetings with our local authorities and with companies operating in our State. We also
approached the Union level government and the president for help. We have submitted cases to
Investigation Committees from the Parliament in Nay Pyi Taw. We have held demonstrations and on
some occasions we have taken other kinds of actions. We are committed to do our activities in a nonviolent way, within our civil rights and within the framework of the existing laws.
But nothing much has happened despite all our actions.
It is extremely difficult to get the information we need. Letters we write very often don’t get answered.
Promises made by the authorities and by companies are not kept. Land that has been grabbed and
should be returned to us according to the law or on special orders, is kept away from us by authorities,
by the army, by companies or individuals. When we try to register our land, we are often obstructed
from doing this. Companies are operating without a license and nothing is done to prevent or punish
this unlawful behavior. Effects on our environment and our health are not monitored and never
remedied. Laws that should protect us are not implemented, while other laws are used against us when
we are trying to address our problems and get support. The power of the Shan State government is not
properly defined, and the division of duties between elected representatives and appointed officials is
unclear. Even our elected MP’s seem to be unable to help us.
We have had many discussions about why this is happening. Why it is so difficult to back up our
experiences with information we need but very often can’t get. Why our civil servants are unable to do
their job properly and why they are depending on higher level approval before they can do something
for us. Why there is no action against companies that break the laws and do not follow the regulations.
Why our needs and wishes are ignored and neglected.
We have analyzed our situation together and we think it is because our system of governance is not
suitable for a democratic federal state, where we can participate in decision making according to
democratic principles, and our needs are addressed and our problems are solved for the benefit of all.
Our current system, which is based on the Constitution of 2008, is too much like the system we had
when the country was governed by the army. Some of the ministries are not under the direct control of
the president, but are attached to the army. This is confusing for us, because it is not clear who makes
the decisions. Especially with the civil servants of the GAD the situation is confusing. The civil servants of
the GAD are under the responsibility of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is one of the three ministries
that are under the supervision of the Commander in Chief. It is confusing for us to understand who has
the decision making power over the administrative services in our country: the President or the
Commander in Chief? We believe that services controlling law implementation, security (like the police)
and services should be under the control of elected people in line with democratic principles. We also
believe they should operate in such a way, that the people can trust the law, and can understand what
the government is doing and why they are doing it.
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Now, we feel that nobody takes responsibility for our well-being and for the future of all the people in
Shan State. We do not benefit from the development projects, we can’t protect our land, our
environment and our livelihood. We are not listened to, and we seem powerless to have influence on
the decisions that are made by the authorities. In the current situation, it is difficult for us to believe and
trust the people making the decisions. They are not all elected, they are not accountable to us, we can’t
understand what they are doing and they never explain properly to us. They don’t keep their promises,
and sometimes they refuse to tell us the truth. This is causing us suffering and unhappiness.
We want to live a peaceful life, within our communities, within Shan State and within our country.
We want to be able to support our families and keep them safe. We want to protect our environment
and develop our country for the benefit of all communities.
We have explored ways of making the system better for the people, based on what we need, what we
want and what we believe to be the right way. We want to share our proposals for a better future for
all.
Impression of MPA workshops Shan State
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 93
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The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 95
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The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 97
98
.. Part 2. Proposals for a better future
Panglong
The
voice Agreement
of the Shan(1947)
StateMonument
people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 99
Our understanding of some important terms.
Federal Democratic State
We understand a federal democratic state as a country were different States and Regions within the
Union are governed by governments that are freely and fairly elected by the people in the State or
Region under an elected civilian chief minister. We believe that this vision reflects the Panglong
agreement and reflects the hope of the people in Shan State.
The States and Region governments should function with self-determination in their own areas within
the framework of the Union. The Central government should consist of civilians, reflecting the ethnic
diversity of the Union, and should be elected. Both Union and States and Region governments should be
based on rule of law according to internationally accepted standards and have an independent judiciary.
Federal power should include full authority over matters within their area within the framework of the
Union. We accept than some functions of the state, such as defense, foreign relations and currency will
be under the responsibility of the Union government, but we believe that sustainable peace in Myanmar
will be served by genuinely sharing executive and legislative power with States and Regions
government.
Accountability
We understand accountability to mean the process where our elected politicians, civil servants and
other people in positions of authority regularly explain their actions and decisions, in such a way that it
can be decided whether their actions and decisions are in line with agreed and accepted conduct and in
compliance with the law.
Transparency
We understand transparency to mean that all actions and decisions of persons holding authority, either
in government or the civil service are publicized and shared with the people. The process of decision
making should be clear, information should be accessible and complete, so the people can assess the
decision making process. It also means that budget is known to the community and expenses are
accounted for openly.
Customary Land use and practice
Our traditional land rights are mostly based on informal rules and customs. Community members know
and follow these customs and traditions, though they are mostly unwritten.
The customary law covers our customs of land tenure, how we use the land and who can inherit our
land.
We acknowledge collective and individual rights to land. Land that is used and worked by the
community, is considered collective tenure.
When we use our land based on ancestral ownership, families (individuals or households) have the right
to cultivate the fields they own based on their free will and independent choice.
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Customary land rights do not only apply to farm land. A community can also have communal grazing
land, common water sources and forests for firewood.
Because of the diversity in our state, customary law can vary between different communities.
People centered development.
We understand people centered development to mean sustainable development that serves the needs
and wishes of the local communities, without neglecting the needs of the nation. People centered
development should be based on protecting the environment for this and future generations and should
be the basis for social and economic justice and ensure that all citizens will benefit from development
efforts. We believe participatory decision making is an important part of people centered development,
so people can have influence on the decisions that impact on their daily live and livelihood.
Rule of law
We understand rule of law to mean that all citizens are equal under the law. And that the laws and
regulations made by an elected civilian parliament are implemented equally for all citizens in the
country. Rule of law needs an independent judiciary, and law enforcement that is accountable for its
action to a civilian authority.
Rule of law can only be effectively applied when just laws are made with the consent of the people
through a transparent process of lawmaking by a freely and fairly elected civilian parliament. This needs
open communication and consultation channels between the lawmakers and the people to ensure the
laws are made based on the needs and wishes of the people.
Just laws protect all the people in the nation equally as well as their natural and cultural environment.
Just laws do not protect vested interests and the national and international corporate community at the
expense of the Myanmar people.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 101
. Introduction
We, the people of Shan State, want to support the transition to democracy in our country, because we
want change. We understand that transition takes time and that change is complicated. But we also
believe we have wasted many decades already and we can’t afford to wait and be patient anymore.
We want to actively participate and have influence on how our country should be changed. We want to
share our voice and our vision and we want to be part of the decision making. We want to make sure
that our wishes and needs are no longer neglected by the people in power.
We believe that first and foremost, we need peace in all parts of the country. We need a Nationwide
Cease Fire Agreement that includes all Ethnic Armed Groups and will end the fighting in every corner of
our country. When there is no more fighting, we can start debating and discussing how we can make
sustainable peace and genuine democracy in Myanmar.
Our vision and proposals for a better future presented in this part of “The voice of the Shan State people
for Peace and Transition to Democracy”. We want to share our proposals, because we want to assist
and support our government and other stakeholders in developing a system of governance that takes
the needs of the people seriously without neglecting the needs of the nation. The proposals we present
here, are the product of our collective process of analyzing our problems and finding ways to prevent
these problems from happening in the future. We present them as the first step of our participation in
the dialogue to change our country.
We know our country faces problems in many fields, but we have concentrated on Land, Natural
Resources and Governance. We believe that land and natural resources together can make a firm
foundation for the development of our nation, if they are developed for the benefit of all people. Land is
the source of our livelihood, as most people make a living as farmers. We are connected to our land.
Therefore policies and laws made on land need to respect the traditions of the people and our link with
our land.
Natural resources can be the collective wealth of our country, but unregulated extraction of natural
resources is also a threat to our environment. We want to develop our country, but we also want to
preserve our environment.
As we are directly affected by extraction, we want to participate in decision making on how we should
extract our natural resources. We believe that all natural resources belong to the nation as a whole, and
should only be used for the benefit of all people and only with respect for the environment and future
generations.
We selected Governance, as it has become clear in this transition period that our land, our resources
and our lives can only be safe when the government reflects the needs of the people and governs with
respect for the common needs of the nation.
As we want to be citizens in de federal democratic state, there is a need to create a system that brings
this vision closer. We want to share our ideas on how our government should be organized.
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Proposals for a better future - Land
Many of the problems we are facing are directly connecting to land. Many of the lands that we depend
on as farmers are grabbed from us, both during the former government times and after 2010. We face
a lot of difficulties when we are trying to register our land according to the rules of the Land Law of
2012. We also suffer from the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law of 2012, as much of the
land that is categorized as vacant or empty according to this law, is actually used by the people.
Especially traditional farming communities are afraid to lose their land because of this law. We don’t
have a proper mapping system to safeguard the land for people who have already used it for a long
time.
Our farming and village land is our life blood. We depend on it for shelter and food. We are connected
to it through our ancestors, our customs and traditions. Most people in Shan State depend on farming,
and registration of our land is vitally important. It is the basis of our livelihood and secures our future
and the future of our families. All state owned land that is not used for public purposes should be
transferred to farmers, who can then register it as their land.
We want to be able to independently decide what crops we grow and how we manage our own farm.
Our communities depend on our common forests, grazing land and water sources. To secure the life of
our community and our culture, we need the rights to our common land and our water sources to be
formally recognized and respected.
As Shan State has a diverse population, different communities have different traditions of customary
land use. These differences should be respected and recognized in the land laws and policies on land use
management. These rules and regulations should be guided by the actual situation of the people,
and safeguard the traditions. The actual situation should be documented in a proper and updated
mapping system that is publicly available for consultation.
We believe that law making and policy development can’t be done without the input of the people
directly affected.
Therefore we envision a government that is decentralized, because in a decentralized system under a
Federal State government, communication, participation and consultation between people and
government can be organized from the village level up to the State level (within the framework of the
Union).
Elected representatives need to be accountable to the people who are directly affected by their actions.
Appointed civil servants need to be accountable to our elected representatives and work within a
framework of laws that are supported by the people and implemented on the basis of equality.
Because of the diversity in our State, smaller decision making units will guarantee that diversity and
traditions that differ from area to area can be protected. This can’t be done without direct input from
the people.
Therefore we need elected representatives in all decision making bodies, from the village level to the
State level. These elected representatives should be accountable to their constituencies by a regulated
process of information sharing, and all decisions should be made public.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 103
As information is the basis of participation, we need free and open channels of communication and
information.
We need a regulated process of consultations with the communities to ensure that the regulations
serve the needs of the people and contribute to our common welfare.
We need civil servants who are following the rule of law without influencing political decisions, and are
accountable to the people through our elected representatives.
We also need reliable and independent complaint mechanisms to protect us from possible abuse of
power or any form of corruption, manipulation or coercion.
We propose that the current problems with land registration, land grabbing and land use and
management first have to be solved, before Nationwide Land Use Policies are made and passed.
Foreign investment should take into account that we are in a transition. We want the transition period
to be used to solve our problems, and develop proper laws who are supported by the people and are
passed in free and fairly elected parliament, before we invite foreign investment. Only after the people
are fully participating in the decision making on how we want to develop our country, we can invite
foreign investment.
We are unsatisfied with the very idea of virgin or vacant land. In Shan State there are no virgin or vacant
lands, all land is used and valued by the people who live on it. The definition of virgin or vacant land
used in the Land Law and Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law of 2012 ignore traditional
land tenure.
We have three types of land in Shan State: agriculture land, forest land and lands that are not usable for
agriculture, but are nevertheless valued as common lands by our communities. We claim the right to
register all our ancestral lands; and the lands we use for traditional land use (such as shifting cultivation
or slash and burn small scale agriculture). Our communities have been using the land in these traditional
ways for a long time, and have allowed vulnerable land to regenerate and protected it from overuse.
These practices should be recognized and protected by regulations adapted to local circumstances
under a Federal State law within a national framework. Community statements on their ancestral land
and traditional land use should be respected and serve as valid proof for registration of these lands.
Mapping of community land should be done by an independent institution and mapping can be
combined with making the inventory of traditionally used lands and collecting statements of
communities regarding their ancestral land and their traditionally used land. Mapping should be done in
a transparent way and should serve to guide the registration process. Mapping should be done with full
participation of the communities involved. Before this mapping has been finished, no ‘virgin or vacant
lands’ should be allocated for use by other parties.
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Land management committee
We believe that the existing land use management committees are not functioning properly, because
their duties are not well defined. We think that they are not always able to do their job independently
because they have to follow orders. It is unclear for us whose orders the land use management
committees have to follow.
The land management committee should have departments on all levels – from village level, to village
tract, township, district and state, each with well-defined authority and duties.
Land management committees should ensure that the local traditions are in line with the state laws, but
can also make proposals to the local executive and the state parliament to amend the laws to
incorporate the local needs.
Though we can respect the expertise of civil servants when it comes to measuring the land, the process
of registration and knowledge of the laws and regulations, we believe they should not be involved in
decision-making processes, as that should only be done by elected representatives. These elected
representatives can ask advice from independent experts or from organizations working on land issues
or farmer organizations. Farmers / farmer representatives should have an important role in the land
management committees, and should be assisted by elders and ethnic leaders. Women should be
involved in land management committees on the basis of equality.
The land management committee should work within the framework of the laws and regulations, but
only when the laws and regulations are developed and passed according to accepted democratic
standards and are supported by the people.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 105
A land management committee that is supported by the people and can operate for our benefit should
look like this:
We understand the role of civil servants to be supportive to the work of elected representatives. They
should not be involved in the decision making process, but support the elected representatives with
expertise and information. Therefore we need civil servants we can trust to work for the benefit of the
people in accordance to the law and the rules and regulations.
The Farmer union and possible other farmer organizations can support with advice and expertise from a
farmer’s point of view. An independent legal expert can give advice on compatibility of the proposals
with the existing laws.
Every village should have its own committee, and members should be elected for a period of 5 years.
There should be an independent complaint mechanism. Care should be taken that rules and regulations,
as well as laws, are accessible in local languages.
In order to guarantee a free and fair political process, there should be rules and regulations against
misuse of power and corruption, and these rules should be implemented through the executive and
enforced by a police force that is accountable to the elected government.
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Proposals for a better future - Natural resources
Our country and especially Shan State is rich in natural resources. As we explained, we are facing many
problems with regard to unregulated extraction of our natural resources. Mining and other industries
are threatening our environment, our livelihood and our health. Our communities do not benefit from
the development of our resources, as extraction is controlled by local and foreign companies that do not
follow the rules and are more interested in making private profits than in sharing the wealth of our
country with all its citizens.
Our natural resources need careful management and should only be extracted after there is common
ground on how we want to develop our country and our State.
This development model has to be based on our common values and the need to safeguard our
environment for future generations.
We strongly believe that before we have decided on a model for development we can’t invite foreign
investors to extract our resources, because we want our resources to be managed for the welfare of the
people and with the consent of communities affected. We need to create a common development
vision for our country that is supported by the people before we can allow our resources to be
extracted.
Because communities who live on or near natural resource areas face direct effects of extraction, these
communities should be directly involved in the decision making process on development through
natural resource extraction. Our land, our water, and our children’s livelihoods can be destroyed by
irresponsible mining. We claim the right to protect our environment and our future against unlawful
mining and irresponsible companies protected by vested interests.
We also claim the right to share in the wealth of our natural resources and believe that this wealth
should be used for the benefit of all people.
Lawmaking and policy development on natural resource management should be based on people
centered development. People should be consulted before drafting the laws and the policies.
The consultation should include an inventory of what people want and need. From this inventory a draft
proposal should be made. This draft should be communicated publicly and there should be space to
react to it. If there are amendments made to the law or the policy in parliament after submitting the
draft, these amendments should be made public, through open communication on the law making
process.
There should be safeguards that the lawmaking process is independent from private influence by forces
who can be held responsible for irresponsible extraction in the past, and the political process should be
transparent to safeguard against undue influence from private forces.
Politicians and people in government positions should declare their business interests and should not be
involved in extraction or other enterprise related to natural resources as long as they function as
people’s representatives or government.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 107
Resource sharing
The revenues of the natural resource extraction should be shared justly among the states and regions,
to ensure equal sharing of wealth among all communities. As we believe that our resources are the
common property of all people in our nation, we want to use the revenues to create sustainable
development regulated by a government that adopts a people and welfare centered approach. This will
best done in a systems were State and Region governments have real authority to make decisions on
development in close cooperation with elected councils that represent the people on all levels.
There should be full transparency on natural resources and revenues.
Local communities who are affected by mining should be directly compensated for the environmental
effects of the mining and should share first in the revenues to develop local economy and services.
Local communities should have the right to decide they want to leave the resources in the earth, at least
till methods for safe extraction and protection of environment and health
Example of how revenues of resources could be shared.
The revenues of the resource extraction should be used for the benefit of the people and the nation.
Transparency on extraction and revenues is needed to ensure fair sharing of wealth and benefits. Part of
the net revenues should be for the company, as we understand companies only thrive when making
profitable returns on their investment.
We understand that natural resources are finite, once extracted, they are gone. Therefore, a substantial
part of the revenues should be used for sustainable people centered development.
These revenues should be divided among communities, state and nation and controlled by elected
bodies on all levels.
We propose to reserve part of the revenues for social and human resource development, such as
education, healthcare, gender equality, infrastructure and other services.
Another part should go towards building a sustainable economy and safeguarding our environment by
making sure the damage done by extraction is remedied through clean ups, reforestation and other
measures to protect the environment.
We also think that a fund should be established to secure reconstruction after natural disasters and for
investments to secure revenues for the future.
Local natural resources and sustainable development councils should participate in the decision making
on extraction and budget expenditure for development.
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A natural resources and sustainable development committee that is supported by the people and can
operate for our benefit should look like this:
Mining should only be done after the consent of the community affected is given. The current Mining
Law of 1994 and Bylaws of 1996 allow a project to be started after ten to fifteen community members
have signed their approval. We think this is unfair and unrepresentative of community opinion. We also
believe it encourages corruption and gives companies and authorities too much space to use pressure.
Consent should be given in an open and transparent way, after awareness and consultation by
independent parties as well as stakeholders. Consent should be based on a common opinion in the
community and not be based on the consent of 10 villagers only.
The collaboration and agreement of the community should be based on free and fair information and
awareness sharing on both the benefits of mining and the harmful aspects of mining. If a community
agrees to allow mining in their area, mining should be done small scale, systematically and fully
transparent. Mitigating measures to restore the environment after mining should be decided upon
before extraction starts. Funds should be reserved to cover the costs of the mitigating measures. There
should be restrictions on the use of resources for the sake of preservation.
Laws, rules and regulations should be made in a fully transparent way by elected representatives of the
people, and implemented by skilled civil servants who are accountable to an appropriate, elected
governing body. Enforcement should be strict and fair, based on the rule of law and executed by a
properly staffed and skilled controlling body, unrelated to and independent of private business
interests.
Foreign and other investment should only be engaged after genuine democratic decisions are made and
reflected in laws that are supported by the people.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 109
Consultation and participation
Consultation and participation should be an integral part of law making and policy development.
We want to share the drafting of the National Land Use policy as an example of the current law and
policy making process and share how we believe consultation should be done to guarantee people’s
participation in the decision making process.
The NLUP
We only learned that a National Land Use Policy was being drafted on October 18, 2014. By this time,
the NLUP was already in its fifth draft as the drafting process had started in 2013. This is not according
to democratic principles.
In Shan State, a workshop was organized with CSO’s, NGO’s and political parties to make awareness on
standards of land use and comparisons to other countries’ policies. Advice was given about the next
steps in the process.
The main objections on the draft policy were:
- No people’s participation
- The draft was more beneficial to companies and industry than for farmers
- Not clear on rights of returning refugees
- No measures to regulate resettlement of Ethnic Armed Organizations. After Cease Fire Agreements,
it happened that demobilized soldiers became involved in land grabbing. This created problems
within and between communities
- The draft is too vague on customary land use, as it states only that customary land use will be
respected
- No specification or specific limitation on how much land a person or company can own. To avoid land
grabbing, the exact amount of land a company is allowed to own should be specified.
- There are land use management committees on all levels (union, state and region, district,
township). But representatives seated in these committees do not really represent the farmers /
communities. In the centralized committee there is no farmer representation at all.
In all states and regions the reaction to the NLUP draft was the same: nobody agreed with the draft.
A letter was written to Nay Pyi Taw to complain. As a result, the government announced consultations.
The Government created three groups responsible for the consultations: each group had to visit two
states/regions in one day, making the time for consultation very short.
During the consultation sessions, the schedule was very tight: 2 hours reading time for a 94 page
document, 1 hour Q&A and discussion.
After the consultation meetings, the drafting committee wanted to finalize the NLUP, but it became
clear that more consultation was needed. Therefore, two Expert Round Meetings were organized.
After these meetings, a the 6th draft of the NLUP was presented.
Though the draft presented at the 6th Expert Round Meeting was a great improvement from the first
drafts, still there are some flaws in the proposed NLUP.
- Lack of coordination between law makers and policy drafters
- The land mapping process: different departments have different ways that are not compatible.
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- The definition of land is too vague. The government identifies three types of land: used land / unused
land / virgin land, but in a vague manner which causes confusion. This confusion creates conditions
favorable to land grabbing. (E.g. if a farmer/owner does not use his land for 6 months, it will become
unused / vacant land automatically. This causes problems especially with traditional land use where
land is allowed to lie shallow between cultivation periods)
- Representatives for consultations should be representatives recognized by the communities they
represent.
- People should be properly informed on law making process.
Consultation and people’s participation are very important in the process of drafting laws and policies
like the National Land Use Policy, that has a direct effect on people’s live and livelihood.
Although there has been some consultation during the development of the NLUP, we believe the
process of participation should be organized as a matter of principal and guided by regulation adopted
to ensure a proper and guaranteed participation process.
Proposal on how drafting policies with regard to people’s participation should be done:
We recognize that laws should be made under supervision of elected lawmakers. However, laws directly
affect people’s lives, especially when they are concerned with matters of land, resources and livelihood.
Therefore, people should have the opportunity to participate in the law making process. This
participation could be shaped through awareness, consultations and information sharing.
This is especially important in Myanmar’s period of transition, when many new laws are needed to
substitute the laws from the previous period and create a body of laws compatible with international
standards of democracy as well as international best practice.
Steps in participatory law and policy making process
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Research should be done without partisan or business interest on the views of the communities.
This is especially important in a country that is as ethnically diverse as Myanmar. Political parties
and issue- and rights based CSO could play a role in this process by consulting with their
membership and supporters. This research should include international human and civil rights
standards, best practices and international norms and guidelines.
From this research, a first draft can be constructed by a team of experts, including an advising body
which contains representatives of the affected societal sectors – In the case of the NLUP, this would
be farmers’ organizations, as well as independent nonpartisan experts. This first draft should be
freely available in print for those interested.
Based on this draft, awareness and consultations sessions can be organized with the people and the
organizations that represent them, to be informed and have the space to comment. These
comments should be incorporated in a second draft.
This second draft again should be freely available for those interested and again comments should
be invited from community members and/or their representatives, and independent nonpartisan
experts.
From this process, a final draft can be produced that is put to parliament for debate. This debate
should be public and accessible for those interested. This final draft should be publicized and
accessible for all.
After due parliamentary process, when the law is accepted and signed by the president, the law
should be published in full. Care should be taken that the bylaws, regulations and implementing
laws are in line with the law, both in word and in spirit. Bylaws, regulations and implementing laws
should also be published in full and freely accessible for the population.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 111
Proposals for a better future - Governance
We believe that many of the difficulties we face when we are trying to address and solve our problems
are related to our governance system. The Union government has not shared power with the State
governments in such a way, that the State governments can make independent decisions based on the
needs of the people in the state.
What we want is a government that serves the people. We believe that this can only be reached by full
participation of people on all levels of government. That means we want elected representatives on all
levels of government. These representatives should take the people seriously by consulting and
communicating with them before they make decisions on behalf of the people.
To ensure that government reflects the needs of the people, we believe a decentralized system is best.
We envision a federal state, with State and Regional parliaments and governments that have
independent decision making power and the budget to implement the decisions, under a framework
created by the Union Parliament and government. This will create the space for participation of the
people as well as protect the diversity of our country.
Under the federal governments, a bottom up system of decision making should be developed, with
defined authority on every level.
All representatives and members of management committees and councils should be civilian. We
consider the role of the army to be to protect the nation against foreign intrusions. We do not believe
there is a role for the army within a genuine democratic government.
We also believe that all departments of government and all civil servants should be under the control of
an elected government. All departments and civil servants should be accountable to elected
representatives and to the people. There should be a clear code of conduct for all members of
government and civil servants, and it should be guaranteed that their role is to implement the laws and
policies decided by elected representatives in consultation with the people.
We believe this is the best guarantee for sustainable peace and for the democratic development of our
country.
To protect the human and civil rights of everybody in our country we need the guarantee of equality
under the law. Nobody should be outside or above the law. Our judiciary and court system should
function independently, under civilian control, and laws should be applicable equally to everybody.
Law enforcement should be guided by rule of law, and should be transparent and accountable to
elected representatives on all levels.
We expect our government and our representatives to have the ability to generate innovative ideas and
solve problems according to democratic standards.
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A Governance structure of a federal democratic Shan State that is supported by the people and can
operate for our benefit should look like this:
(As we have focused on land and natural resources, this structure represents our idea on a state
structure that covers land and resources. We understand that there are other, equally important fields,
such as education and health, for which committees and structures are also to be developed.)
Proposals for a better future - Gender
Women make up half of the population. They should be facilitated to fully participate in public life. We
believe democracy and sustainable development needs free participation of women. We have a
common responsibility to make sure women can take their rightful place in the consultation and
decision making process.
We believe men and women are equal, but we understand women have different experiences and
perceptions than men. To create a nation were all people benefit from equal opportunity and share the
benefits of development and democracy equally, women should naturally have the space to participate
in all aspects of life.
Discrimination of women in education, job opportunity and government service should be eliminated
and special efforts should be made to enable women to take their rightful role in public life.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 113
Constitution 2008, Chapter 8: Citizen, Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens,
Art. 350: `Women shall be entitled to the same rights and salaries as that received by men in respect to
similar work’
Although equal pay for equal work is granted in the Constitution, in many instances, women receive
lower salaries than men for equal work. For this right to be enjoyed by the women of our country, it
should be taken seriously and measures and policies to implement equal rights should be developed.
Art. 352: `The Union shall, upon specified qualifications being fulfilled, in appointing or assigning duties
to civil service personnel, not discriminate for or against any citizen of the Republic of the Union of
Myanmar, based on race, birth, religion, and sex. However, nothing in this Section shall prevent
appointment of men to the positions that are suitable only for men’
This article confuses us. We wonder who is entitled to make the decision on what `positions are suitable
only to men.’ We think it contradicts the basic statement that women and men should be treated equal
and women should enjoy the same rights and opportunities as men on every level of private, public and
professional life.
Impression of MPA workshops Shan State
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The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 115
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.. Rule of law needs just laws
Every country has laws. But not all countries have the same process of law making. In democratic
countries the laws are made through a democratic process, by civilians who are elected by the people
after listening to the voice of the people. The laws are publicized, and there are channels of
communication between the lawmakers and their constituencies.
Myanmar is now in a transition to democracy. We believe that in a democracy, laws are based on
respect for the people. In Myanmar, we need laws that reflect the needs and wishes of the people and
acknowledge and respect the ethnic diversity in our country. To achieve this, people need to be involved
in the law making process through participation and consultation.
We have many laws in Myanmar. When we started making this book, we studied the laws that are
connected to the issues we have selected. We found that parts of some laws are directly related to our
daily life and are supportive of the people’s needs. In Part 1 we share those laws and articles that are
beneficial for the people.
[the specific articles of the laws referred to as shared in part 1 of this segment of the document are only
available in the Myanmar version, which can be assessed on www.myanmarpeoplealliance.net]
Nobody should be above the law. However, we also found some parts of some laws that are not
compatible with democratic principles. These parts are beneficial for small groups only, not for the
community as a whole. In Part 2 we share those laws and articles that are not suitable for a democratic
country.
[the specific articles of the laws referred to as shared in part 2 of this segment of the document are only
available in the Myanmar version, which can be assessed on www.myanmarpeoplealliance.net]
We found that some laws are supportive of the community needs. This is positive, though we also found
that people lack awareness of these laws and are therefore prevented from getting the benefit those
laws offer.
We believe that the government should make an effort to make sure people in Myanmar know the law.
Laws should be published when they are drafted and there should be channels of communication and
participation. After the law is adopted in parliament and signed by the president, the law should be
made public in such a way that people can access them easily. Laws that have direct impact on the daily
life of people should also be translated into ethnic languages.
Another weak point in our current system is that the laws that are supportive of people’s needs are not
implemented properly. Because of this, the protection that people should get from the laws is withheld
from them.
The parts of the laws that do not benefit the community seem to be made for the benefit of a small
group. These laws limit the freedom of expression. In a democracy, the opinion of the people matters.
People should be free to voice their complaints and share their opinion with each other, also if this
opinion is critical of the government.
Some parts of the law in Myanmar do not protect the people. They make the people afraid and are used
to oppress the freedoms and civil rights that people should enjoy in a democracy.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 117
In this transition period, we are changing the system in our country. Rule of law is an important part of
the change we want. But is order to have rule of law in a democratic and fair way, we need just laws.
Laws that are made through consultation and supported by the people. There should be no space for
laws that are designed to make the people afraid and can be used to silence the voice of the people.
.. What we value
We value our communities, our social and cultural heritage, our language, our traditions. We value the
way we live, as communities, rooted in our land, living with respect for our forests and our water and
our animals, both domesticated and wild.
We want to be able to freely express our traditions, with our festivals, our religious celebrations, our
calendar.
We want to preserve what we have inherited from our parents and our ancestors. We want to be able
to pass on our language and customs to our children. We want to keep our own way of using our land
and our other resources. We want to preserve marriage traditions, the symbols of our tribe or village,
our way of dressing, the way we prepare our food, our traditional medicine, our handicrafts and the way
we decorate our objects.
All together these elements make up our identity, it expresses our membership of our community. It
contributes to our happiness and our sense of belonging.
We want our government to recognize the value of our traditions, language and customs. We want to
be able to make our own rules and regulations according to our traditions under the framework of the
State and Union laws.
Although we are granted the right to protect and develop our own culture in the Constitution of 2008
(chapter 8, art. 354 (d)) these rights and liberties are not always granted in practice.
We believe our country can greatly benefit from its rich diversity. Recognizing the ethnic peoples as
equal and grant them full autonomy to preserve their culture, language and tradition will contribute to
sustainable peace and democracy.
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Impression of Shan State: ‘Our land, our life, our future’
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 119
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The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 121
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The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 123
.. Part 3: Impression of `The voice of Shan State People for
Peace and Transition to Democracy’ Forum
MPA t-shirt campaign: `listen to our voice - we want genuine peace, we want just laws, we want fair development’
. Summary of `The voice of Shan State People for Peace and Transition to
Democracy’ Forum
In collaboration with MPA, we, the people of Shan State held the Forum `The voice of Shan State People
for Peace and Transition to Democracy’ on December 15 to 17 at the Shan Literature and Culture
Association hall, Taunggyi, Shan State.
400 people representatives from Southern, Northern and Eastern Shan State participated in the Forum.
Invited guests from SNLD party and SNLD MPs who won their seat in the 2015 general election, Ahkha
Ethnic Party, PaO National Organization, PaO National Liberation Organization, the chairman of the NLD
for Shan State, ABSDF, the Officer for Farmer Affairs from the 88 New Generation for Peace and Open
Society, MATA, Paungku, Land is Our Hand (LIOH), Farmers and Land workers Union (Myanmar) and
UNDP attended the Forum.
On December 16, we, the representatives of the Shan State people, presented the issues on land and
natural resources we are facing. We also presented proposals for a better future concerning land,
natural resources and governance to solve the problems we face.
We presented a proposal how to participate in creating a federal democratic state. We, the people of
Shan State really want to participate to establish a federal democratic state.
We launched a T-Shirt campaign: With this campaign we want to encourage the new government to
take the people’s wishes seriously; make it their responsibility to be a fully accountable government and
make laws in the future Shan State and Union Parliament that benefit and protect the people.
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We want a government that consists of genuine representatives that protect us, take our wishes
seriously, listen to our voice, recognize and respect us and collaborates with us in creating a federal
democratic state.
Photo’s of the conference
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 125
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. Statement from `The voice of Shan State People for Peace and Transition to
Democracy’ Forum
From December 15-17, 2015, people representatives from Shan State presented the book “The Voice of
Shan State People for Peace and Transition to Democracy” at the forum bearing the same name as the
book.
The Shan State people presented their issues and experiences regarding land, natural resources and
governance. They presented proposals for change to a better future.
This statement is based on the book “The Voice of Shan State People for Peace and Transition to
Democracy” and resulted from the Forum bearing the same name.
We, the people of Shan State want the government:
1. To respectfully recognize that people are the source of power;
2. To collaborate with Shan State people in the transition to a federal democratic state;
3. To work for peace, justice, equality and freedom for all through:
a. Holding a National Dialogue for Peace in which all ethnic armed groups and the people can
participate;
b. Participation of Shan State people in decision making and implementing decisions on
development projects that impact on local communities, to guarantee the life security,
wishes and needs of communities.
Therefore we need:
4. Directly elected representatives on every level of the government;
5. Directly elected representatives to have regular meetings and consultations with the people
they represent;
6. To create mechanisms so that the people and the government can collaborate;
7. The voices and suggestions of Shan State people to be heard in the National Dialogue and the
Peace Process.
Myanmar People Alliance
Taunggyi.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 127
.. Short summary of the highlights
We are farmers, we depend on our land for our livelihood and our future. We value the way we live, our
culture and traditions and our identity are important to us.
Women are half of our countries population, but they do not enjoy equal rights and equal treatment.
We believe this is not fair. We want women to be able to participate equally on all levels of decision
making, sharing equal opportunities and have equal benefits. Without the participation of women, we
can’t succeed in creating a country where everybody can feel safe and happy.
We face a lot of problems; when we want to register our land according to the law, we are often
obstructed. Our land that had been grabbed from us in the past, and should be returned to us, is not
released to the former owners. New land grabbing takes places for large scale agriculture, natural
resource mining, industry, housing- and infrastructure development. Most of the time, these projects
for which our land is used, are not connected to the benefit of all the people in our state and our nation.
Because of the way our country is developed and our natural resources are extracted, our environment
is being destroyed, our forests are dying and our water is polluted. We worry for our survival.
On many occasions, we experience that our government, our civil service and our politicians are not
solving our problems. They don’t listen to our needs and wishes and never inform us properly of their
actions and their plans. It is not clear to us who has authority to make decisions, and we feel the
position of the army in government and civil service is the cause of our confusion.
We are in a period of transition. We understand that changes in the system take time, but we also feel
we have been patient and silent for too long. We want to actively contribute to the transition of our
country to a democratic system and a federal state. Our country is a very diverse country, and we think
this diversity is best protected in a federal state. In a federal state, the people are closer to the
government, and have better opportunity to participate in the decision making process. Within the
framework of the national laws, federal laws and regulations can be adapted in a civilian state
parliament that is elected free and fair. Elected representatives of the people should take us seriously,
and listen to us and work for our benefit according to democratic principles.
We need a government on all levels that understands that we want to participate in decision making. As
we all have to follow the rules and live according to the law, we have to make sure the laws are made
for the benefit of the people. The law should guarantee equality and human rights for all. The law
should also ensure that we can protect our way of living, culture and identity, and our environment. The
law should not protect the benefit of a small group of people at the expense of the community.
Before laws are made that have impact on our land, our life and our future, the causes of the problems
we face need to be addressed. Land use practice, land registration and land mapping should serve the
common people working on the land. It should be done in a transparent process and ensure that the
people directly affected have a clearly defined role. Therefore, we propose a land management
committee that includes real people representatives.
Our natural resources are the wealth of all the people in our country and our state. But the way they are
extracted causes only harm. We lose our land, our beautiful landscape is destroyed, we lose our homes
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and our communities. The regulations that should control and remedy health and environmental impact
of mining are insufficient. And even these insufficient rules are not implemented and often broken.
Poisonous substances are released in our air and water. This makes people and animals sick and
sometimes cause death.
We can only take the resources out of the earth one time. We should have a clear development plan
before we extract our resources. This development plan should be people centered and reflect a
common decision that is supported by the people. Therefore, we propose a natural resources
management and sustainable development committee on all levels of government that includes the
people’s voice. We want development for our state, but we also want to protect our resources and our
environment for our future generations, we want to protect our animals and our forests, pastures, rivers
and lakes. Preserving the beauty of our state and the diversity of life should be an important part of our
development policy.
If we reach a common decision supported by the people to extract our natural resources, the benefit
this brings should be shared equally and used to create a sustainable economy that supports the
livelihood of all people and protects nature. Therefore we propose a system of resource sharing for the
benefit of all.
We want to live in a country where the people and the government work together to create wellbeing
for all citizens. For this, we need a government that we can trust to serve the wellbeing of the people.
This means we need open and clear information sharing, full accountability and genuine representation.
Information is the basis of democracy. We want a government that focuses on finding common ground.
This needs to be done through consultations and awareness with the people. There should be no
secrecy in the decision making processes that impact on the daily life of the people. Duties should be
clearly defined, and it should be clear to everybody who holds the authority to make decisions. Those
with the authority to make decisions should all be civilian. Civil servants should abide by the law and
work according to transparent descriptions of duties. They should be accountable to elected
representatives. We have shared our proposal for a state system that safeguards the participation of the
people on all levels.
Laws are made for people, and therefore should reflect the common needs and wishes of the people.
Only then we can have democratic rule of law.
In the past, we did not have the chance to speak our mind and share our vision and our dreams for the
future openly. Now, we are in transition, and we have the space to share our views and contribute to
creating a new system in our country. We want to be involved in the process of creating a democratic
federal state. We want to contribute to sustainable peace and development for our state and our
country. The time has come to make a better future for all.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 129
.. About MPA
Myanmar People’s Alliance is an alliance of community based organizations, civil society based
organizations, activists and concerned individuals working together to achieve a genuine, all-inclusive
democracy in Myanmar, based on human rights, equality and rule of law.
Our vision for a better future
MPA envisions a democratic society where all people can benefit from the wealth of our country and
have the feeling that they belong to a nation that creates equal chances for all citizens under full
protection of just laws and policies that are supported by the people.
The members of MPA believe that in a genuine, all-inclusive democracy people can speak freely and can
participate in the decisions that directly affect their life and their community.
After decades of conflict, we believe this transition period is the right time to create a society where
sustainable development is based on sustainable peace. The transition from a dictatorship to a
democracy is a complicated process that needs the contribution of all the people to make it genuine.
Therefore, MPA wants to cooperate actively to create a future where every human being in Myanmar
can live a secure and happy life, and where we can feel represented and valued by our government.
We believe a future Myanmar needs to be a federal state within the framework of the Union to make
sure that the diversity of the country is protected. We believe that a federal state based on democratic
values and equal rights and opportunities for all citizens will contribute to sustainable peace in the
Union.
We believe people are the most valuable resource of any nation, therefore we believe that in a genuine
democracy the government governs the country with the free consent of the people.
We believe that people are the masters of their own life, and have the right and the responsibility to
participate in the process of creating a free and fair society. Therefore, the rights of citizens to
participate in the social, economic and political process is more than the right to vote in general
elections. We believe access to information; open communication between the people and their
government, cooperation and real power sharing on all levels is needed to create a genuine democratic
society.
Our area of work
Our country faces problems in many fields. MPA concentrates on Land, Natural Resources and
Governance. We believe that land and natural resources together can make a firm foundation for the
development of our nation, if they are developed for the benefit of all people. Land is the source of our
livelihood, as many of our people are farmers. We are connected to our land.
Natural resources can be the collective wealth of our country, but unregulated extraction of natural
resources is also a threat to our environment, our health and our wellbeing. We believe that all natural
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resources belong to the nation as a whole, and should only be used for the benefit of all people and only
with respect for the environment and future generations.
Governance is the backbone of our country. Our land, our resources and our lives can only be safe when
our government reflects the needs of the people and governs with respect for the common needs of the
nation.
We believe we need laws, policies and regulations that reflect our vision of a democratic federal state
where the government represents the people and power is shared transparently between the different
levels of government within the Union. These laws should be made through a democratic process of
consultation and transparency, and should be implemented fairly and equally for the benefit of the
community.
We take the current transition seriously. We are ready and willing to participate and cooperate in
making our country a genuine democratic federal state.
How we work.
MPA is an association. Organizations and individuals who share our vision are welcome to cooperate
with us. We want to work together making our vision for the future come true. As we believe people
should be able to actively participate in the making of decisions that affect their life, we focus on sharing
information, awareness and knowledge about laws, citizens’ rights and the situation in our country.
Informed citizens who are aware of their rights can claim their rightful place in society.
As we are working for change, we investigate the problems our people are facing, and try to find
solutions to solve the immediate problems. As many of the problems people face are directly connected
with the lack of good governance and rule of law, we also discuss what changes are needed to make our
life better and happier.
We work directly together with communities, and are building a network between communities.
We share the issues our communities face and their suggestions and wishes for a better future with the
government and other stakeholders on different levels. We organize workshops, trainings, meetings and
forums to discuss and share our vision.
The voice of the Shan State people for Peace and Transition to Democracy 131
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Format and layout English PDF version: Saskia Kunst & Simon Schagen (11-04-2016).
The text in this PDF production may be subject to typing errors and therefore to correction.